Chapter 309 Street Lamps

"Look at your own exam. You're not allow to look around and look at other people's answers. You should know the consequences of cheating on the examination." Sitting in front of the classroom, Ren Baqian scanned everyone like a hawk. Placing a rifle on his lap, he was obviously trying to intimidate the students.
When the students received and saw the examination packet, they finally knew what examination meant. All of them looked miserable and several of them looked around anxiously.
When Ren Baqian's words resounded through the air, everyone obediently lowered their heads and looked at their own exams.
After a while, they picked up their brushes and started answering the questions.
Every student had already adapted to the brushes that Ren Baqian made using the feathers of a type of huge bird. They stained their brushes with some ink and started writing. Once they got the hang of it, these brushes worked better and faster than the brushes they had used in the past.
"Bang!"
The sudden gunshot shocked everyone.
"Du Laoliu, this is the last warning that I'm going to give you. If you look at the person beside you again, I will make sure you stay and recuperate," Ren Baqian said plainly.
Du Laoliu was given a fright. Following which, he obediently looked at his own exam.
The rest of the students also did not dare to cheat on the examination in any way.
After all, they found the rifle to be extremely intimidating.
Even though the bullets couldn't kill them, they were very painful!
After an hour had passed, the alarm clock placed beside Ren Baqian suddenly rang, giving everyone a scare.
This was the first time they saw an alarm clock.
"Time's up. Pass the exams to me," Ren Baqian said as he patted the lectern beside him.
Ren Baqian left after receiving everyone's exams.
After he left, the students began to ask each other about the examination questions.
"What is the speed of sound?"
"What is the melting point of iron?"
"Convex lens or concave lens emit light?"
...
Ren Baqian brought the exam packets back to Pingle Park. Many tall and thick wooden pillars were erected on both sides of the road back to Pingle Park. They were about six meters tall with roughly uniform thickness. A layer of plant sap had been applied on their surfaces as well, preventing them from rotting.
Furthermore, the wood that was used to build them couldn't be easily damaged by bugs. This allowed them to be used over many years.
These pillars had just been erected, and the street lamps had yet to be set up on them. The batteries and street lamp components he had brought over from Earth weren't sufficient.
Afterward, Ren Baqian went to Yangxin Palace Hall. When he arrived there, he saw a few boxes on the floor. There were also a few craftsmen waiting for him there.
He then taught those craftsmen the method of connecting the solar panel, batteries, and street lamps together. Even though the craftsmen did not know what these things could be used for, they still did a good job under Ren Baqian's instructions.
One of them jumped onto a wooden pillar at a position that was two meters above the ground. Following which, he climbed to the top of the pillar like a monkey. Using his legs to hug the wooden pillar, he used a rope to hang a solar panel, a battery, a light bulb, and a lamp cover at the top of the pillar and began to install them together.
After this craftsman had successfully installed the lamp on the wooden pillar, Ren Baqian climbed up to check it. He realized the craftsman had indeed done a rather good job.
Initially, the craftsmen were rather slow in installing the lamps on the wooden pillars. However, after successfully setting up a few, they began to get the hang of it. Ren Baqian felt that these craftsmen's learning ability was much stronger than those idiots in the academy.
A total of 20 street lamps were set up throughout the entire afternoon. Six of them were set up in front of Yangxin Palace Hall while the rest were set up along the path connecting Yangxin Palace Hall and Pingle Park.
Ren Baqian hoped this path could be lit up with the street lamps first.
After completing this task, Ren Baqian entered Yangxin Palace Hall to accompany the empress.
"You are leaving for the mountains in a few days' time?" the empress asked.
"Yes! The availability of salt is an important issue and has to be settled as soon as possible. Even if we can't settle it, we still have to think of other solutions quickly," Ren Baqian replied.
Ren Baqian wasn't confident in setting up salt wells in the mountains, but he still had to give it a try.
"Oh!" The empress nodded and did not say anything else.
"But from today onward, the area outside of Yangxin Palace Hall will always be lit. You no longer need to carry a lantern when you want to go out and stargaze," Ren Baqian chuckled and said.
Hearing these words, the empress became happier.
The development level of Dayao still paled in comparison to Earth's, but everything had to be done step by step.
Looking at the changes taking place in the imperial palace and the things Ren Baqian taught those students, she was confident that she would see Dayao flourish like Earth in her lifetime.
"Great Xia has sent out their troops today," the empress said subconsciously.
"Already?" Ren Baqian was slightly taken back. It had been only a week since the empress told him what the emperor of Great Xia said.
Great Xia was indeed in a hurry to attack Dayao.
"Since they have already made the decision to attack Dayao and have made the necessary preparations, they naturally wouldn't delay it any longer." The empress wasn't really surprised.
"This afternoon, 150,000 Great Xia soldiers set off from Tiesuo Pass and lined up before Ping City. Their catapults have already launched three rounds of rocks at Ping City. However, General Hong Wu said that their targets might be Shun City and Ziyue City. The defenses of these two cities have already been set up to prevent night attacks from Great Xia. I still don't know the specific details regarding the situation. It will be known tomorrow," the empress said plainly.
For the past few days, Ren Baqian had been looking through the maps of Dayao and Great Xia. The key cities and passes that laid between Great Xia and Dayao were Tiesuo Pass, Qingyang Pass, Ping City, Shun City, Yunlao City, and Ziyue City.
Of course, there was also an enormous plain and a mountain range lying between the two nations. However, the key areas were these four cities and two passes.
If Great Xia did not break through these areas and attacked Dayao from other places, their escape route and line of supply could be easily blocked.
Therefore, if their target was all of Dayao, they had to take down one of these cities or passes to ensure their military campaign could proceed smoothly in the future.
"General Hong Wu's army should be able to stop them," Ren Baqian said.
Ren Baqian did not know Hong Wu well. However, Hong Wu had been defending the border of Dayao for a multitude of years and was highly regarded by many people. He was an extraordinary military strategist.
Furthermore, he had 30,000 aboriginal warriors under his command, a drone, binoculars, and walkie-talkies. He shouldn't have much problem holding back the armies of Great Xia for the time being.
"Of course." The empress nodded.
Her tone displayed her confidence and trust in Hong Wu.
After having dinner, Ren Baqian heard a small din outside of the palace hall. He turned around and realized the sky had already darkened. However, as compared to the past, the darkness now was accompanied by traces of light. He knew that the street lamps were ready.
"Your Majesty, let's go out and take a look. The starry sky tonight will be very beautiful," Ren Baqian held out a hand and said.
"Alright!" the empress replied with a smile.
Ren Baqian seized the opportunity to hold the empress's hand and walked her out of the palace hall. At this moment, both of them could already see the light coming from outside of the palace hall.
As they walked out of Yangxin Palace Hall, they could see the imperial guards raising their heads in a daze. They couldn't even close their mouths.
Before these street lamps were ready, no one expected they would produce such an effect. They couldn't believe the street lamps would automatically emit light when the sky darkened. The lanterns that were usually used in the palace paled in comparison to these street lamps.
There were 12 wooden pillars in the courtyard of Yangxin Palace Hall and six of them were emitting a white light from their tops, illuminating their surroundings.
Even though it wasn't like daytime, everything in the courtyard could still be seen clearly.
"Cough!" Ren Baqian gave a cough, and the four imperial guards quickly turned around and greeted the empress, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"
The empress nodded and did not say anything. Holding Ren Baqian's hand, she followed him under the light from the street lamps.
Ren Baqian led the empress out of Yangxin Palace Hall's courtyard. There were two rows of street lamps outside Yangxin Palace Hall, but only one row was lit up.
A black figure and a red figure were slowly walking along the road.
Ren Baqian was in a good mood as street lamps had finally appeared in Dayao. Even though they were brought over here from Earth, he believed that Dayao would be able to create its own one day.
"The starry sky tonight seems exceptionally bright!" Ren Baqian beamed.
The empress turned around and looked at the path behind her. Then, she turned and looked at the path in front of her. "Huh? Only this section is equipped with street lamps?"
The distance between each street lamp was 60 feet, which was roughly 20 meters. The path connecting Pingle Park and Yangxin Palace Hall was brightly lit. Many people in the palace were dumbfounded when they saw this path suddenly light up, especially when other parts of the palace were still engulfed in darkness.
"Very soon, the entire imperial palace will be equipped with street lamps. And one day in the future, they will be found all over Dayao as well." Ren Baqian chuckled.
"I will be waiting for that day to come." The empress gave Ren Baqian a smile.
At this point in time, when the people that were surprised by the street lamps saw that Ren Baqian and the empress were holding hands, they couldn't believe their eyes.
This was the ice-cold empress of Dayao! Why would she do such a thing!
The scene of Ren Baqian and the empress holding hands and walking side by side certainly had a greater impact on everyone than the street lamps.