After my soul traveled to ancient times, I don't want to be cannon fodder

Emperor Yong couldn't wait any longer. "Su Qi, take a few imperial guards with you and rush back to the capital to get the old man from the Ministry of Works who's best at building fortifications."

Su Qi was a little confused, and then he thought that the emperor must be talking about Zhang Tu, the master architect who designed gardens for the court and was proficient in construction projects.

"I obey your command!" Su Qi bowed his head and replied, "Should we also notify the Minister of Works?"

"Just ask Zhang Tu to bring his stuff over!"

"Yes!"

Su Qi randomly selected a few imperial guards, left the imperial farm directly, and galloped towards the capital.

Emperor Yong then followed Lu Xingzhou and listened to his introduction of other weapons that could be formed from gunpowder besides the thunder bomb.

It is necessary to let Emperor Yong know as much as possible that making gunpowder is an extremely labor-intensive and costly task.

But at the same time, the effect will be even more amazing.

Emperor Yong looked at the several designs of flintlock rifles and red cannons that Lu Xingzhou had recently drawn, and listened to Lu Xingzhou's ideas and power about them.

I couldn't help but get excited again.

"My dear, these firearms must be manufactured in due time. Don't worry, I will satisfy all your needs!"

Emperor Yong was so immersed in this that he seemed to have imagined the Northern Di and Western Rong trembling under the firearms of the Great Yong.

He believed that he was not a foolish ruler. During his reign, there was a man named Fang Ping who was favored by heaven and could be called the Immortal Poet.

Now there is another military genius, and it will no longer be a dream to crush Nanzhao and wipe out the four barbarians.

"My dear, you must be like Fang Ping, whose soul has entered another world and received guidance from immortals!" Emperor Yong had an expression that said, "I knew it would be like this."

The corner of Lu Xingzhou's mouth twitched slightly. So this is how his fellow villager cleared himself?

This is actually not wrong.

He is indeed not from this world.

"Your Majesty has a keen eye, and he saw through my true nature at a glance!"

Lu Xingzhou immediately replied, "I have indeed entered another world and witnessed many miraculous things, such as artillery that can be fired from long distances, or aerial machinery that can deliver artillery fire from a distance..."

"When I woke up, I couldn't let it go for a long time. I often thought, if our Great Yong could also have this magical object, the unification of the world would be just a snap of a finger!"

"It's just that my abilities are limited. After waking up, I only remembered a few basic styles. Thanks to Princess Zhaohua's favor, I was able to develop a prototype. Although it's not as powerful as the ones from another world, it can still be considered a small achievement."

Emperor Yong's eyes lit up when he heard this. "As expected of the Immortal Realm, it possesses such power!"

As for Zhong Ning, he turned directly into the imperial farm.

In order to find out the real situation, he took off his hairpins and rings, put on an ordinary dress, and avoided the eyes and ears of the managers at all levels of the imperial estate. He brought Feng Xin with him and a few lightly dressed imperial guards.

Inspecting a small mountain village under the jurisdiction of Huangzhuang.

This imperial farm has about 700 acres of fertile land, and the tenants are villagers from a small mountain village at the foot of the mountains not far from the imperial farm.

There are about 330 people in the village, and they make a living by growing crops.

Today we heard that an important person was visiting the imperial farm, so the managers of the imperial farm issued a notice in advance, asking people to stay in the fields or at home if they had nothing to do, and not to walk around casually.

It was just after the busy farming season, so the villagers were relatively free. When they saw Zhong Ning and his men entering the village, they immediately came forward to greet them.

"You must be the noble man from Zhuangzi, right?" Three old men around sixty years old looked at Zhong Ning and said.

Zhong Ning looked at himself. He was dressed in ordinary clothes, without any luxury at all. How could he look like a noble person?

"Old man, I'm not from your village. I'm just an ordinary passerby from Datong Prefecture. I'm passing by here and want to ask for a glass of water!"

"Oh!" Several old men looked at each other, with a hint of disappointment between their brows. "Since you are a guest, please come in and have a cup of tea!"

"My last name is Zhang, you can just call me Old Zhang. This is Li San, and this is Wang Lu!" After introducing himself, Old Zhang pointed at the other two old men and said.

Zhong Ning bowed slightly, "My name is Zhong Ning, you can just call me Miss Zhong! These are the bodyguards I hired. I'm going to Beijing to stay with my relatives, and I'm afraid they might get into trouble along the way, so I did this."

Feng Xin and several imperial guards bowed and saluted.

Several old men looked at the few people and found that although they were dressed simply, they had extraordinary demeanor. They might be relatives of a high-ranking official in the capital.

If you can make friends with people, you should naturally make friends with them.

A few people led the way, passing by several earthen houses and thatched huts, and turned into the alley in the center of the village.

Zhong Ning followed them into a low thatched house, took the large bowl of water handed to him by the old man's wife, took two sips, and then said:

"I just heard the old man say that there is a distinguished person at the village today. Do you know who it is?"

The old man brought over a few wooden stools and motioned for Zhong Ning to sit down. He then said, "This manor is the imperial manor. It was originally the emperor's private manor, but was later bestowed upon a princess. Today, the steward said there's an important person at the manor. I imagine it's this princess who's here for an inspection."

"So you...you work on the imperial farm, how is the year?" Zhong Ning asked.

"What's the harvest like? The imperial farms are mostly fertile land. In good years, there are plenty of harvests. However, for us farmers, we can only eat until we are 70% full at any given time..."

The old man's slightly aged face was covered with wrinkles of time. He sipped his teacup with absent-minded eyes and said, "At least I won't starve to death. I can still survive..."

"I heard that the profits between the imperial farm and the farmers are divided into 40% and 60%..." Zhong Ning asked.

"46?" Old Zhang shook his head slightly. "That was a few years ago. Now, we and Huangzhuang split it 370%!"

Zhong Ning frowned slightly. She had looked at the account book, which clearly recorded four or six parts.

If the account book is fake, where did the extra 10% of the tenant go?

Elder Li also sighed, "It's still 37% right now, so we can barely eat until we're 70% full. I heard that Her Royal Highness the Princess recently ordered a 10% increase in rent. Starting next month, it will be 28%, so we'll be lucky if we can eat until we're half full."

Zhong Ning's eyes suddenly sank.

When did she order the rent share to be increased?

How dare someone use her name to exploit the tenants? How despicable!

"That's right. We farmers have no other choice. We heard that an important person is coming to the farm today, so we asked our grandson to find a way to sneak in and see if he can meet the important person. We only ask her to be kind and not increase the rent!"

Zhang Lao's eyes were red as he wiped away his tears. "But there's still no news from my little grandson. I'm afraid...I'm afraid he's been caught by the steward..."

Mr. Zhang choked up and couldn't continue. He suddenly stood up and rushed out:

"My boy must have been detained. How can he survive if he offends such a noble? I will go and beg them right now. I will use my life in exchange for my grandson's life!"