Chapter 385 Commotion

During the court session, the empress felt around for two pieces of bright red, rectangular, flat, and surfaced… bricks. She lifted her hand, and one after another, the two pieces of brick flew outward.
The supervisor of the Public Security Bureau and the supervisor of the Department of Inspection were fighting. Among the two, one of them got smacked strongly on the head by a brick first.
After that, the other person got smacked on the head by a brick too.
"Your Majesty!" The two of them stopped fighting. They turned around and cupped their hands in obeisance.
The empress patted the dust off her hand and felt very satisfied. These bricks were very convenient regardless of their weight and size. Moreover, the feeling of throwing it was indeed different, Plus, the accuracy was extremely high.
It seemed like she should carry a few more pieces with her.
Nowadays, bricks were still considered rare in Dayao. Only glass factories, cement factories, and blast furnaces used bricks, whereas the majority of the commoners had yet to see them.
It was unlike Earth, where bricks could be collected anywhere.
"The militia is still under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War." The empress said faintly, "However, the name doesn't sound that pleasant. Change it into another name." This was the first court session the empress had attended since she returned. After dealing with other more important matters, she later brought up the issue of the militia.
In fact, things had already been set in motion beforehand. It was due to the urgency of the war that the militia had been formed in the north. As for the other protectorates, there weren't any actions taken yet because they were waiting for the empress to formally make arrangements.
Just now, this was the reason why the supervisor of the Public Security Bureau and the supervisor of the Department of Inspection had fought with each other. However, as the two weren't good with words, they might as well used their fists to vent their discontent.
Of course, even if it was one person who spoke harshly, the outcome would still be the same.
Besides the two of them, the Minister of War, Qin Chuan, and the Minister of Justice, Liu Yidao, were each giving the other a death stare. If the empress didn't put a stop to their fight, the latter two would probably stage an opera in front of them.
"Why don't we call them the commoner's army?" Shi Qing asked after thinking for a while.
"What would be the difference in that name compared to calling them the militia?" The empress gave him the side-eye.
"Shall we call them rearguards?" Qin Chuan suggested.
…
It had been proven that it was the empress's mistake to let this bunch of court officials think of a name. "Principal Ren, what do you think?" After listening consecutively to seven or eight names, the empress had no choice but to shift her gaze to Ren Baqian, who was sitting in the middle. It was Ren Baqian's first time participating in a court session, and he witnessed two Standard class, Rank 4 officials fight just after exchanging a few words. Immediately, he understood why the empress was so calm during the banquet. Ren Baqian was the only newbie among them, so he might as well just continue to keep his head down as if he were daydreaming.
Now that the empress called his name, Ren Baqian had no choice but to step forward and suggest, "Why not call them the city management military group?"
"Therefore, the public order bureau should have complete control over the militia. From the name, it's obvious that it's a department under us." Bai Shiying immediately played along with Ren Baqian's words. "Eh?!" Ren Baqian realized that the entire Ministry of War was glaring at him. He reckoned that they were pondering which part of his body was more resistant to beating.
"Why not call them the defense force?" Ren Baqian promptly changed his suggestion.
This time, the entire Ministry of Justice cast angry look sat Ren Baqian.
"It is better if Your Majesty is the one who determines the specific name." Ren Baqian dropped a bomb on the empress and continued to look down. He made up his mind not to attend court sessions even if he had nothing to do.
In the event that someone gave Ren Baqian a punch, he wouldn't have any logical reason to justify himself. "They will be called the defense force, and the Ministry of War will have jurisdiction over them. Depending on the size of each town, 1,000 to 3,000 people will be selected. They will continue to lead their normal lives, but will receive three months of training every year. Also, provide food and weapons during training." The empress made the final decision.
After that, Ren Baqian continued to daydream until he heard someone shouting, "Court session has ended!"
Only then did he come back to reality.
After finishing his lunch, he summoned Tang Feng and Gu Ziheng, the two managers of the caravans.
"Sir!"
Inside Pingle Park, Ren Baqian was currently teasing the two pandas. He flipped Tiantian over with its belly facing the sky and scratched the area between its belly and private parts. Ren Baqian enraged Tiantian to the point that Tiantian opened its mouth and wanted to bite him. However, just when Tiantian stretched his head out to attempt this, Ren Baqian used one hand to restrain him.
He realized that pandas didn't like people rubbing the area between their bellies and private parts. Whenever he did it, Tiantian and Gungun would attempt to bite him, but he never got tired of doing it.
"The both of you are here. How are your injuries?" Ren Baqian finally let go of Tiantian, whom he had been torturing for the longest time, and smiled.
Tiantian immediately somersaulted, got up on its feet, and walked away while groaning. Its voice was full of grievance.
"It's all thanks to Sir that our injuries have healed quickly," both of them replied.
"Alright. The situation is chaotic now, and there are people fighting everywhere. Both of you should take a break for a while and help me purchase some things."
"Sir, please speak."
Ren Baqian looked at the both of them. It might be due to the fact that they had more dealings with people from other nations, but they spoke differently compared to the ordinary aboriginals as a result. They were more polite and also didn't sound as boorish.
Ren Baqian returned to the room, took out a piece of paper, and handed it to them.
"Purchase 45 sets according to this paper."
These were the medicinal herbs required for Ren Baqian's training. He required one set of herbs for his weekly medicinal bath, so these 45 sets of herbs could last him for ten months.
The 7,000 taels of gold brought back by the both of them had been converted in to 70,000 taels of silver, which was barely enough to purchase 50 sets of herbs. However, Ren Baqian instructed them to only purchase 45 sets.
"We'll do our utmost best." After the two of them read through the contents, Tang Feng folded the piece of paper and kept it safe with him.
"You will divide the left over money. After all, you all deserve some reward. However, don't make any mistakes on the things I want, particularly the quality and the year it was harvested.""Many thanks, Sir," the two people sincerely thanked him. Ren Baqian gave them a reward of 7,000 taels of silver, which was considered a huge sum to them.
Naturally, their subordinates would have to receive a little reward too. In addition, they had to deliver some money to the families of those who had died outside.
Even so, this was still considered a huge sum of money by everyone.
"The 45 sets of herbs don't have to be purchased all at once, but do send one batch of them back as soon as possible. I'm waiting to use it. The both of you may take your leave." Ren Baqian waved his hand after he finished speaking.
After the both of them left, Ren Baqian sat in the garden for a while. He then called the guards to inform the students that school would reopen in three days' time.
As the guards visited each address to inform each and every student, a commotion broke out.
When Ren Baqian wasn't around, they somewhat missed going to school. After all, they were able to learn about things that they had never heard or seen before.
However, now that Ren Baqian was back, the image of him brandishing his gun furiously appeared in everyone's head once again.
In particular, the damned homework. They had been playing so hard for the past two months that it was as if they had returned to the old days where all they did was drink and fight without any worries. The issues of homework and so on had been thrown to the back of their minds.
"Has anyone informed you guys yet? There's still three days left before school reopens!" A few students gathered with very sullen expressions.
"Don't remind us! How did time pass so quickly? I feel like I have only been playing for a few days, yet Yagui is already back.""Do any of you know someone who has completed their homework?"
Homework was now their top priority, and they were only left with three days. Even if they burn the midnight oil, they might not be able to complete the homework.If they could choose, they truly wanted to borrow another 500 days from Heaven.
[Lyrics from a Chinese song]
"It seems like Tong Lan is done with her homework. When I met her that day, even though she didn't say anything, it seemed like she had completed her homework." Someone came up with an idea right away.
"It's not necessarily the case that that little girl will let us copy her homework, right?"
"We have to give it a try. I don't believe that she has the nerve to refuse to lend to a bunch of us!"
"Go, go, go!"
An hour later, the little lolita Tong Lan, clapped her hands and instructed her servants, "Throw this garbage out!"
Then, she returned to her room and worked on her homework while fuming with anger.
…
Following the announcement of the school's reopening date, the students from Black Bamboo Academy began to rack their brains.
Several students divided up their homework and allowed one another to copy. A few others went to borrow the completed homework from the little lolita and got beaten up by her. There were also a small number who gave up and left suicide notes. In addition, there were also a few students who had already completed their homework, but claimed that they had yet to do so, joined the rest in sighing while they looked at the commotion, and secretly enjoyed themselves.