With a million soldiers, the empress begged me not to rebel

Is there a fee to enter the city?

The master and servant got off the carriage and looked around.

I saw a brick and stone building blocking the middle of the road.

The carriages were lined up in front of the metal bars.

The horizontal bar was raised, and a carriage drove into the toll booth.

Chen Qingwan was confused. She stood on tiptoe to look at the situation ahead.

The coachman stretched out his hand, holding a small booklet a few inches square and some change.

The person at the toll booth took the item, stamped the booklet, and handed it back to the driver.

The driver was paid but he did not show any sign of anger. Instead, he happily exchanged a few words with the staff before getting back on the road.

"Da Ning has been established for two hundred years. When did we ever stipulate that there would be a fee for entering the city?"

"This Lu Yan is setting up checkpoints privately and exploiting the people!"

Qiao'er said unhappily.

"Don't say that, girl!"

Upon hearing this, the old driver immediately spoke.

"Lord Lu charges a fee to maintain this road."

"My Lord said that this road is constantly being used by people, and it's exposed to the wind and sun, so it's bound to break down. Repairs will cost money, so this money is being saved for future road repairs."

The old driver explained.

He turned his eyes and gave a look.

"In addition to paying road fees, passing vehicles must be weighed and not overloaded. If they damage the road surface, you will be fined and imprisoned!"

Chen Qingwan turned her head following the driver's gaze.

I saw a line of big words written on the wall of the toll station.

"All vehicles passing through must be weighed! Those who are overloaded will be severely punished!"

See this line of words.

Overload, Chen Qingwan muttered this new word.

At this time, two people wearing gray uniforms and red armbands came over.

"Is this your car? What's the license plate? Are you carrying goods or people?"

One of them looked at the old driver and asked.

The old driver immediately brought his men to the front of the car.

"I got a license from the county two years ago, specifically to pick up people."

He explained.

The young staff member opened his workbook and looked for the license plate hanging on the back of the carriage.

"Found it. It's a legitimate license plate. It belongs to the Ding Ding Taxi Company owned by Lord Lu. The license number is 186. It's a horse-drawn carriage for rent. Its operating area covers Shannan County and neighboring counties."

Another person asked, "Has it been inspected? Last month, at the city gate, the eldest nephew of Mr. Liu hit someone with his carriage, yelling, 'My uncle is Mr. Liu!' His carriage wasn't inspected, and he drove on even with a broken wheel. Lord Lu was furious and scolded our boss, and now he's sweeping public toilets on the street!"

"So that's how it is. I was wondering why I hadn't seen the boss for quite some time. His car just had its annual inspection done after the New Year, and it passed."

The staff member replied.

The other person nodded and looked at Chen Qingwan and Qiao'er.

"Lord Lu has stipulated that all passing vehicles, whether carrying goods or people, must be weighed! The fully loaded weight cannot exceed the limit, otherwise there will be a heavy fine!"

"I know!"

The old driver responded quickly.

The man pulled open the curtain, looked inside the carriage, confirmed that there was no one, and walked towards Chen Qingwan and the other person.

"follow me!"

Qiao'er immediately became nervous when she heard this.

"Bold...what are you going to do?"

The man was a little confused: "Weigh it!"

Weigh it!

Qiao'er and Chen Qingwan looked at each other with embarrassed expressions.

Do I have to hang myself up like a pig being weighed in a slaughterhouse?

"you……"

The more Qiao'er thought about it, the more upset she felt, and she couldn't help but have a fit on the spot.

Chen Qingwan immediately spoke up: "Big brother, you see, we are two women, and we are so light, we will definitely not be overloaded, so forget about weighing us."

The staff member shook his head. "This is Lord Lu's rule. We have no other options! We must be rigorous in our work, following the rules and procedures. How can we rely on visual inspection?"

After he finished speaking, he waved his hand and someone came out carrying an iron scale.

This iron scale is strange.

There is a wooden block at the bottom with an iron pole across it and a large tray on each side of the pole.

"Who comes first?"

The staff asked.

Qiao Er glanced at Chen Qing Wan and saw that she was still unwilling to reveal her identity, so she blushed and said, "I'll go first!"

The staff nodded and said, "Stand inside the tray on the left, step both feet in, and compact it firmly, but don't use too much force. Just keep it in a natural position."

Qiao'er felt a little strange when she heard what he said. This didn't seem like weighing pigs. What on earth were these people doing?

She walked to the iron scale and, as the staff instructed, stepped on the tray and pressed it to the ground.

The tray on the other side immediately tilted up.

The staff began to direct others to press the large square iron blocks onto the opposite pallet.

The tray was pressed down until it rested on the ground.

Finally, the two sides are even.

"Eighty-five pounds."

Someone reported.

The staff immediately wrote down the data.

"next."

He looked at Chen Qingwan.

Chen Qingwan was shocked by this operation.

There is actually such a scale in the world. What's wrong with the brain of the person who came up with this idea?

Chen Qingwan also stepped onto the tray and watched the other party carry the iron block. She couldn't help but ask, "I've never seen this kind of scale before. Where did it come from?"

"This scale? It was invented by Lord Lu, and it's called the Tianping Scale. The two ends of this scale are like heaven and earth, or the emperor and the people. Only when the two sides are balanced will there not be so many natural and man-made disasters in this world."

the staff explained.

"How dare you! How dare you equate the emperor with the people!"

When Qiao'er heard it, she immediately scolded him.

"Isn't it true? The Emperor is like a boat, and the people are like water. Water can carry the boat, but it can also capsize it. Without the people, where would the Emperor come from?"

The staff member continued.

"It's simply... it's simply outrageous!"

Qiao'er's face was excited.

"Haha? I think you're the weird one. A maidservant doesn't think about herself, but worries about the old emperor who's thousands of miles away!"

The staff scoffed.

Qiao'er looked at Chen Qingwan with a dark face.

Chen Qingwan was not angry, and asked: "Brother, who taught you these words?"

"I learned this at school. Lord Lu requires all county clerks to attend night school training. Every six months, there will be an assessment. Those who fail the assessment will be eliminated. Lord Lu personally taught us all this!"

The staff member replied.

"Ninety pounds!"

The other side reports data.

Qiao'er was already furious, but Chen Qingwan gave her a look, signaling her not to speak.

After weighing themselves, the two returned to the carriage.

The bell on the front of the car rang and the wheels started moving again.

"Your Majesty, I think what Wanminshu said is correct. No matter what tricks Lu Yan used on the people of Shannan County, he simply wanted to rebel! Otherwise, he wouldn't have said such treasonous words in the school!"

"Should we mobilize troops to capture him?"

Qiao'er said angrily.

Chen Qingwan shook her head and said, "But I think what this Mr. Lu said actually makes some sense."

Chen Qingwan recalled the imperial arts she had learned in the Imperial Study as a child. The principles in them were indeed similar to what Lu Yan had said. But Lu Yan was a commoner who had even bought his position as a ninth-rank county magistrate. How did he know all this?

The carriage arrived at the city gate following the bustling traffic.

Chen Qingwan asked Qiao'er to draw the curtains and look at Shannan County through the window.

The county town wall is tall, almost level with the provincial capital's wall. The wall surface also glows with a bluish-black glow, and it is neat and smooth, looking solid and powerful.

Once inside the city, the streets were wide and clean, with long gutters on either side and a row of willow trees along the sides. Beneath the trees were shops, hawkers hawked their wares, flags fluttering, a scene of prosperity.

Seeing this scene, Chen Qingwan was inexplicably moved.

Isn't it what I have been pursuing since I ascended the throne that the country is prosperous and the people are well-off?

As she was sighing, she saw a crowd of people surging on the street.

"Have you heard? The government is trying another case!"

"Right now, it's Mr. Liu's nephew who's in trouble!"

"Ah? Another member of the Liu family?"

"Hehe, there will always be retribution for doing bad things. Let's see how Lu Qingtian will deal with them!"

The people were talking and shouting as they walked.

The yamen is trying the case?

Chen Qingwan began to ponder.

"Qiao'er, let the driver go to the government office. I want to see how powerful Lu Yan is!"

She ordered.