The Empress's Gigolo

Chapter 832: The Passageway

Ordinary people would be directly killed by the roar.

However, like a pet dog, its natural disposition was to please people.

“Tie it up here!”

Ren Baqian directed the group to tie the roaring emperor on top of a rockery that was as tall as a man.

It stared at the two guards tying it to the rocks and tried to struggle a little, but it was like a squirming baby.

It tried to look ingratiating and almost stuck out its tongue.

“Cover its mouth!” Ren Baqian added. After the two guards had covered its mouth, he squatted in front of it and asked with a smile, “Do you know what mistake you have made?”

The roaring emperor looked at him blankly.

“Did you dig all those tunnels under the palace?” Ren Baqian continued smiling.

If these tunnels were only beneath the palace’s bedroom, it would still be fine, but the problem was that the roaring emperor and the crow general were housed more than a kilometer from the bedroom. This meant that it was unknown how many palace halls were affected.

The excavation had also revealed dozens of holes in the original earthen wall surrounding the palace bedroom while the area below the palace was like a sieve.

If this had been done by humans, even annihilation of the whole clan wouldn’t be enough.

The roaring emperor continued to look blankly.

“Not shaking your head is an admission of guilt! Give me the scissors.” Ren Baqian took the scissors and gestured at its d*ck, asking, “Do you know what will happen if I cut it?”

The roaring emperor froze as its ingratiating look changed to terror.

“You will not be bothered by sexual activity anymore. Are you happy?”

The roaring emperor was terrified and struggled desperately.

Ren Baqian patted the scissors on its d*ck a dozen times and pointed at the holes in the earthen walls that were visible. Next, he asked, “Do you still want to dig holes beneath the palace?”

The roaring emperor frantically nodded its head.

“Oh, your d*ck is valuable, but digging holes is even more important?” Ren Baqian chuckled and put the scissors directly on its d*ck.

The roaring emperor froze and then frantically shook its head.

Ren Baqian didn’t want to do anything to it, but tapped its d*ck dozens of times and threatened it before letting it go.

Upon landing on the ground, the roaring emperor instinctively wanted to dig a hole to escape, but its tail was stepped on by someone.

It turned to see Ren Baqian looking kindly at it.

Subconsciously, it showed a fawning smile again.

It was tapped dozens of times again and cried without tears as it landed once more. It looked at its little bird, made sure that it was only a bit swollen, and ran away without digging a hole.

Ren Baqian shook his head. This joker could dig a hole so quickly. The hole it tried to dig in a short time just now was half a meter in diameter and depth.

The empress was staring at the excavation site. One corner had been cleared up, and nine meters below the original bedroom was a stretch of greyish white rock. Its surface was flat and was confirmed to be man made.

There was most probably a secret space below the rock.

Right now, they were trying to find the entrance by expanding the scope of the excavation.

Ren Baqian got beside the empress and said, “Your Majesty, you can construct a new palace…”

The empress slanted her head to look at him.

“I don’t think Your Majesty wants the palace to collapse,” Ren Baqian said with a wry smile. Since the area below the palace was like a sieve, a heavy rain someday would cause it to collapse.

If large parts of the palace were to collapse, the impact would be very big. As the rumors spread, there would be extreme disorder.

As for filling the holes beneath the palace, the whole palace had to be excavated, which was no easier than rebuilding the palace.

The original plan was to construct a modern capital after the roads had been built. Now, the plan to rebuild the capital could be brought forward.

After listening to Ren Baqian, the empress immediately blushed and thought of their licentious actions that had caused the bedroom to collapse.

She punched Ren Baqian’s chest.

Ren Baqian was sent flying, broke a tree that was as thick as a large bowl, and caused the flowers to rain down.

After another day of cleaning, they reached the edge of the earthen walls and discovered that the space below the stone layer was bigger than the palace bedroom.

Finally, the empress resorted to violence by punching out a skylight through the stone layer.

The hole was two meters in circumference and revealed a four to five meter high passageway that was paved with white jade, A very stale smell came out.

“Your Majesty, this place has been sealed up for an unknown amount of time, so the air is too dense for people to go in. Several hours are needed for it to clear up,” Ren Baqian said to stop the empress who was about to go in.

Although they could put in candles to check the oxygen level, Ren Baqian felt that the smell would definitely be bad since this place had been sealed up for an unknown period. Regardless, it was right there and would not run away.

“So be it,” the empress said immediately.

The next day, there were more than 20 people in the compound of the former bedroom. Besides the empress and Ren Baqian, Xin Zhe and even Tong Zhenye were here. The others were some officials from the Ministry of Works and some palace guards.

“Take a torch when you go down. If the fire goes out, withdraw immediately. In addition, be alert and watch out for traps,” Ren Baqian instructed to some guards.

“I didn’t expect Zhao Prince Consort to know this,” Tong Zhenye said in surprise. “If not for the expert in my department, I would not have known about this. How did Zhao Prince Consort find this out?”

Ren Baqian rolled his eyes. This was common sense that even a three year old would know.

“Your Majesty, Zhao Prince Consort, and Sir Tong, we will go down first.” Two of the officials cupped their hands and jumped down.

It was a jump of about six to seven meters, but it wasn’t a problem for them.

They moved the broken rocks to one side, lit a torch, and headed forward in two directions, one going south and one going north.

After that, the empress, Ren Baqian, and others jumped down to look around.

The passageway was about four meters high. The walls on both sides were made of the same stone material as above, but they were better polished.

Ren Baqian bent down to touch the ground. It was warm, delicate, and he could see the grain.

He exclaimed, “This is white jade! What an extravagant project! Was this built by the Hao Nation?”

This passageway was about three meters wide and neither end could be seen in the darkness. The value of this white jade was extremely high, and it was real jade, not white marble.

Even if it was an inferior jade, for such a large quantity, it would still be worth a lot. Although Ren Baqian didn’t know much about jade, the jade on the floor was white, flawless, glossy, and delicate to the touch. This was definitely not inferior jade.

He wondered how they managed to find so much white jade!

“I did not find any record of this.” Tong Zhenye shook his head. Last night, he had sent someone to Qingxin Palace Hall to check the records left by the Hao Nation, but it was to no avail.

“Before the Hao Nation was established, there was a country called the Jiang Nation. This may have been built by the Jiang Nation,” speculated one of the officials from the Ministry of Works.

Ren Baqian saw the empress looking thoughtful and asked, “Your Majesty, do you know something?”

“Yesterday, you mentioned rebuilding the palace. I want to use this jade for the palace!”

“Rebuild the palace?” Tong Zhenye was shocked. To build such a palace required plenty of manpower and resources. The total income of the Dayao treasury for one year might not be enough.

Even after the recent conquest of the Yun Nation, most of the aboriginal citizens were still living in poverty, yet they were talking about rebuilding the palace!

“We will talk about this later.” From Tong Zhenye’s expression, Ren Baqian knew what he was concerned about and winked at him.

Seeing Ren Baqian’s expression, Tong Zhenye knew that there was a reason for this. Furthermore, the empress wasn’t an extravagant person and this wasn’t the right place or time to clear his doubts.

“Your Majesty, there’s a mural here!” A voice was heard from the northern side.