Ren Baqian listened to a portion of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and three chapters of Investiture of the Gods. The sky was already dark by then.
Before leaving the palace, Ren Baqian hesitated whether he should tell the empress about the salt well. However, after thinking about it, he was only 50% confident. If he messed it up, it might affect his value in the empress's heart. In the end, he decided that it would be better to wait until his position was higher before using this method to exchange for credit.
If he did it after the sweet potatoes were ripe, even if he failed, the impact wouldn't be too great.
Ren Baqian returned to the beast park, found some mutton to eat, and went to bed.
The next morning, he took his camera and walked around the beast park, taking pictures of all the beautiful places.
He didn't dare to take pictures of the animals in the beast park. After all, many of them were different from those on Earth. If he took pictures and uploaded them on the internet, it would be too easy to expose himself.
Ren Baqian's current situation was that he had to hide his abilities even if he wanted to show off.
Thinking about what the empress said last night, Ren Baqian was suddenly interested in the history of Dayao. He went to ask Teng Hulu and Tie Dao.
The two of them were guarding a few big wooden basins and resting in a cool place. The basins were filled with animal hides that were being soaked.
After hearing Ren Baqian's inquiry, the two of them told him some of the things they knew.
Ren Baqian knew that most of the people in Dayao were originally aboriginals.
Seventy years ago, the Dayao people that Ren Baqian saw now were actually aboriginals, but they were called barbarians by the outside world. They mainly lived in villages scattered in the Sixty Thousand Mountains in the west and south of Dayao and made a living by hunting.
It was a vast and continuous mountain range that surrounded the west and most of the south of the current Dayao Nation. There were countless ferocious beasts and many aboriginal strongholds in the mountain range.
There was originally a country on this plain called the Hao Nation. At that time, the Hao Nation had been founded for more than three hundred years and was extravagant. The king of the Hao Nation was as licentious as King Zhou of Shang.
The aboriginal women were usually strong and had outstanding looks. They were completely different from the weak women of the Hao Nation and had a unique flavor.
The Hao Nation's emperor listened to someone and ordered the aboriginals to offer up a hundred women. Otherwise, he would send troops to attack.
Furthermore, the aboriginals were not under the jurisdiction of the Hao Nation. Furthermore, with their bad tempers, they naturally did not care about this matter. They even beat the messenger half dead and threw him down the mountain.
The emperor of the Hao Nation was enraged when he received the report and immediately sent out fifty thousand troops to suppress them. He also gave the order to annihilate the village and to send the young women back to the capital for him to enjoy.
The aboriginals were organized in strongholds, and they didn't have much defense either. Five strongholds were destroyed on the spot, and the people in the strongholds were all slaughtered while the women were taken away. Furthermore, the Hao Nation's army was still advancing into the forest.
It was only at this time that the aboriginals reacted. Their anger spread like wildfire in the mountain range. The aboriginals who heard the news gathered together. However, there wasn't enough time, and the number of people who could gather wasn't too many. Relying on the special characteristics of the mountain forest, they set up layers of interception.
After the Hao Nation's army broke through the third layer, they were stopped by the fourth layer and could not advance any further.
Both sides had suffered great losses.
Although the individual strength of the barbarians was strong, they had lost thousands of people in the face of an army of fifty thousand.
The Hao Nation's army wasn't used to fighting in the forest, so their losses were even greater. Almost ten thousand of them were buried in the forest.
At this time, the person who persuaded the Hao Nation's emperor to conscript the women once again gave him a plan.
Why did the aboriginals dare to disobey the Hao Nation's emperor? It was because the barbarians hunted, wore animal skins, and picked wild fruits for a living. They didn't need anything from the outside world and could live freely in the forest. The Hao Nation couldn't send out troops to suppress them. Otherwise, the situation would be the same as now.
If the Hao Nation wanted the barbarians to submit, they had to make it impossible for them to survive in the forest. They had no choice but to obey the Hao Nation.
There was an unknown number of barbarians in the mountain range, but there was one thing that all of them needed: salt. There was a piece of rock salt in the mountain range, and almost all the salt used by the aboriginals came from there.
As long as they poisoned the rock salt, the aboriginals would have to listen to the Hao Nation's emperor if they wanted salt. It could be considered as subduing the enemy without a fight.
The Hao Nation's emperor was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately carried out the plan.
At the same time, he had another thought. Although the Hao Nation was strong against the aboriginals, it was still weaker than the Yun Nation and the Chen Nation. If he could get the aboriginals to join the army, it would be very effective in attacking cities and strongholds.
In the end, the aboriginals suffered heavy losses after the salt was poisoned.
Half of the stronghold where Dayao Nation's first emperor, Ya Peng, lived was either dead or injured. After his grief, he immediately contacted the other strongholds to revolt. They bypassed the tens of thousands of soldiers in the forest and launched a sneak attack on a city near the mountain range.
Now, both sides could be said to have a blood feud.
At this time, a person came to seek refuge with Ya Peng, saying that the Hao Nation's emperor destroyed his family and wanted revenge.
At first, Ya Peng sent people to watch over the other party and guard against him. Later on, when he saw that the other party was sincere in his plans and even destroyed the forty thousand soldiers, Ya Peng began to trust him.
At this time, the anger of the aboriginals had subsided a little. After the forty thousand soldiers were destroyed, there was no longer a threat to their survival. However, the rock salt was poisonous and could only be obtained by plundering cities. Therefore, all the strongholds had to unite and plunder.
It had to be said that this was the Hao Nation's emperor's doing.
The aboriginals' losses also started to increase.
At this time, that person gave advice to Ya Peng. He said that this couldn't go on. They couldn't always rely on plundering to obtain salt. It was better to first occupy a few cities and hold them. Only then would they have the capital to negotiate and obtain salt from the Yun Nation and the Chen Nation.
When Ya Peng heard this, he agreed.
He then contacted a few strongholds located in the depths of the mountain range. With that person as the military advisor, they went down the mountain to attack the strongholds and occupied four cities in a row.
As the Hao Nation's fifty thousand soldiers in the southwest had been completely annihilated, the remaining soldiers had to guard the east and north. At the same time, the Hao Nation's emperor was licentious and tyrannical. There was a rebellion in the region and they had to send troops to suppress it.
Furthermore, the Hao Nation's emperor thought that the barbarians were only robbing some things and that the key was to quell the rebellion. Therefore, he didn't pay much attention to these barbarians. As a result, these cities were captured without much effort.
At this time, that military advisor spoke again. The aboriginals' lives were in the hands of others. No matter who became the emperor, if the barbarians weren't exchanged for salt, the barbarians could only rebel again. This would never end.
Furthermore, this was a great opportunity. The Hao Nation's upper echelons were corrupt, their army was weak, and there was chaos in the country. It was better to directly occupy the palace and behead the main culprit. This way, they could establish a nation and the descendants of the barbarians could live and work in peace and contentment.
At that time, under this person's plan, the barbarians didn't suffer heavy losses regardless of whether it was annihilating the forty thousand soldiers or capturing the cities. The aboriginals trusted him and were persuaded.
The aboriginals, who had never thought of this before, were tempted after hearing this idea. These days, they were envious of the prosperity they saw in the various cities.
This person was also a strategist. Their current military strength was somewhat insufficient and they had to contact the aboriginals in the depths of the mountain range.
At the same time, if they attacked now, the Hao Nation's attention would be focused on them.
It was better to occupy these cities first and pretend that they wouldn't attack anymore. Then, they could contact the merchants from the Yun Nation and the Chen Nation to exchange the resources in these cities for salt. This way, the Hao Nation's emperor would definitely let down his guard and eliminate the rebellion in the country first.
After hearing this, Ya Peng felt that this was a good idea. Although the barbarians in the depths of the Sixty Thousand Mountains had other ways to obtain salt and wouldn't be so easily persuaded, he still sent a few people to persuade them.
The reality was just as he said. The Hao Nation's emperor didn't expect the aboriginals to dare to plot against him and focused all his energy on suppressing the rebellion.
Another eight months passed. During this half a year, the aboriginals stayed in these cities and didn't attack again. This made the Hao Nation's emperor feel relieved. The war in the country was getting more and more intense. He mobilized all the available troops to suppress the rebellion.
Only a small portion of the troops guarded the north and east.
At this moment, a large number of aboriginal soldiers walked out from the depths of the mountains and met up with Ya Peng and the others. Then, they set off for the imperial city. These aboriginal soldiers from the depths of the mountain range were more powerful because of the harsh living environment and the presence of all kinds of ferocious beasts.
During this period of time, they attacked the cities and waded through the rivers. Among them, the two most difficult passes were opened by people in the middle of the night. It turned out that the military counselor had already arranged people inside without anyone knowing.
After ten days, the barbarian army fought their way to the imperial city and finally executed the Hao Nation's emperor in public.
Initially, Ya Peng and the aboriginals only wanted revenge and to plunder daily necessities. In the end, under the incitement of the military advisor, the Hao Nation was destroyed.
When the Hao Nation's emperor saw the military advisor, he was extremely shocked. When he found out that the military advisor was the aboriginals' military advisor, he became even crazier and shouted out everything.
At this moment, everyone realized that the person who provoked the Hao Nation's emperor to demand 100 women from the aboriginals and poisoned the stone salt was this military advisor.
The military advisor didn't stop or defend himself and allowed the Hao Nation's emperor to reveal everything.
After the Hao Nation's emperor finished speaking, he revealed another piece of shocking news. He was the one who arranged a few of the rebellions in the Hao Nation. He was also in contact with the other rebel armies.
His goal was to destroy the Hao Nation.
He had planned all of this for a total of 15 years. In addition to the two years of military campaigns, he had planned for a total of 17 years.
At this moment, it could be said that everyone was fooled by him, including the Hao Nation's emperor, the aboriginals, and even the rebel armies.
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