Meanwhile, Empress Xia Xuanmiao of Daxia and her companions were still stuck on the main road.
After finally paying the fee and passing through the toll station, Xia Xuanmiao suddenly frowned.
“Listen.”
The maid beside her tilted her head upon hearing this, listened carefully, and then exclaimed, “The road is so smooth?”
At that moment, the imperial guard acting as the coachman let out a “whoa” and pulled the carriage to the side of the road.
“Why have we stopped?”
The maid immediately shouted toward the outside of the carriage.
“Miss, this road… you should come down and take a look!”
Xia Xuanmiao was also curious about why the road was so smooth—she couldn’t feel even the slightest bump while sitting in the carriage.
So she immediately lifted the curtain and looked outside.
She saw the guard Xue Zhiyun swing his sword at the grayish road. With a clang! A shower of sparks flashed, and Xue Zhiyun discovered that a notch had appeared on the blade!
Yet the road remained completely unscathed!
“What? What is this?”
Upon seeing this, Xia Xuanmiao immediately exclaimed.
The maid beside her also leaned out to look, and upon seeing the straight and smooth road ahead, she was instantly dumbfounded!
However, as the Empress, Xia Xuanmiao couldn’t show too much surprise even if she didn’t understand.
She pretended to be composed, narrowing her eyes and saying, “Hmph! A mere trifle, but it seems this corrupt magistrate has at least spent the embezzled money on something useful.”
“Let’s enter the city!”
With that, the three continued on their way.
After about another half an hour, the three finally arrived at the city wall of Shangyang County.
At this point, Xia Xuanmiao was holding a small notebook, meticulously recording her observations in Shangyang County.
But just as the carriage reached the city gate, they were stopped again by the guards.
“Do you wish to enter the city?”
Hearing this, Xia Xuanmiao immediately put on her veil, leaned out, and stared at the guard. “What? Are you charging again? Your magistrate is quite bold! We haven’t even entered the city yet, and you’re already collecting money?”
The guard shook his head helplessly upon hearing this. “That’s not it, it’s just… do you have a Good Citizen Certificate?”
Hearing this, Xia Xuanmiao frowned. “What is that?”
The maid beside her immediately spoke up. “Sir, what is a Good Citizen Certificate? We’ve traveled throughout the nine provinces of Daxia and have never heard of such a thing?”
The guard replied in a serious tone, “You may not know, but this is a border region, and spies from enemy countries often come here to gather military intelligence.”
“If you don’t have a Good Citizen Certificate, please register here, including which inn you’ll be staying at and the purpose of your visit. Everything must be clearly written down.”
Hearing this, Xia Xuanmiao felt a bit more favorable toward this Li Mu.
Not bad! After all, this is a border county—it’s only right to guard against those barbarians from the north.
“Also, ladies, today is a restricted day. Non-local carriages are not allowed on the roads.”
After Xia Xuanmiao filled out her itinerary and the purpose of her visit, the guard added another statement.
“Restricted day?”
Hearing this, the maid beside her was momentarily stunned.
“Shangyang County is bustling with traffic, and merchants from all over come and go continuously. To ease traffic congestion, the magistrate has issued a special order.”
“On odd-numbered days of the month, only non-local carriages are allowed. On even-numbered days, only local carriages are allowed.”
“Today is the eighth day of the fifth month, an even-numbered day.”
Upon hearing this, Xia Xuanmiao nearly laughed in anger.
But after glancing at the street, she noticed the carriages on the road…
It really is?!
Even more than the Vermilion Bird Street in the capital!
The broad six-lane road, three lanes in each direction, was packed full!
But what surprised Xia Xuanmiao even more was that although there were many carriages on this main road, they were all in perfect order.
There were almost no instances of overtaking or collisions with pedestrians.
Pedestrians conscientiously walked on the shoulders on both sides of the road.
Almost all carriages would yield to pedestrians.
And on some roads with fewer intersections and heavier traffic, there were even… overpasses for pedestrians to cross?
“Gentlemen, we’ll take the carriage to the nearby parking lot first. The parking fee is ten wen per day. Any objections?”
Xia Xuanmiao looked at this guard, who held a small notebook in one hand and a pen the size of a finger in the other, writing something.
After finishing, he immediately tore the paper from the notebook and handed it to Xia Xuanmiao, saying, “If you want to leave the city, bring this voucher to retrieve the carriage.”
The maid beside her immediately took the paper and looked down at it.
She noticed that this guard could actually write? But what was with this pen? She didn’t see him dip it in any ink? How could it write like that?
At that moment, Xia Xuanmiao inadvertently glanced at the city wall of Shangyang County.
Originally, she didn’t pay much attention to city walls.
In this era, especially in a border county, having a tall city wall wasn’t particularly strange.
But the problem was, this city wall before her was actually fifteen meters high! Even more majestic and imposing than the capital’s city wall!
Moreover, this city wall was entirely bluish-gray, with no trace of rammed earth at all! It was entirely constructed from stone and lime mortar!
“This?”
Xia Xuanmiao could hardly believe her eyes.
The guard beside her, seeing this, sneered.
Hmph! Just another group of country bumpkins.
The guard was long accustomed to this. Since Lord Li took office, Shangyang County had changed too much.
Any outsider who came couldn’t help but act like a bumpkin.
Thinking this, the guard stepped forward and, feigning composure, smiled as he said, “Young lady, there’s no need to be surprised. This is the border of Daxia. To guard against bandits, the county magistrate spared no expense to build this city wall.”
Xia Xuanmiao could sense that this guard looked down on her!
“Hmph! We are merchants from the capital. We’ve traveled north and south—what kind of city wall haven’t we seen?”
After saying this, she didn’t think too much about it, only feeling that this corrupt official had at least spent the embezzled money on something useful.
If that corrupt official really spent the money on such things, he could be spared from execution.
At that moment, the guard beside her, Xue Zhiyun, suddenly frowned and said, “But without the carriage, are we supposed to make our young lady walk to the inn?”
The guard pointed to a thatched shed supported by wooden stakes ahead and said, “This county has nine public bus routes. You can wait here for the public carriage.”
“Just one wen per person, and you can go directly from the starting point to the destination.”
“Public carriage?”
Hearing this, Xia Xuanmiao’s worldview was once again shattered!
“Look! The bus is here! Route nine, passing by the Crown Holiday Inn.”
Xia Xuanmiao looked in the direction the guard pointed and saw a giant carriage pulled by two horses parked beside the thatched shed!
Through the unpapered windows on all sides, Xia Xuanmiao could clearly see that it had more than a dozen seats inside! And it was even two stories tall!
The second level is the sightseeing carriage, completely open-air! It also has over a dozen seats!
Although Xia Xuanmiao was reluctant to lower the dignity of her status as Empress, she was genuinely curious!
What would it feel like to sit on the second level of a carriage!
So, she immediately walked toward the “bus stop.”
After Xia Xuanmiao and her group left, a nearby guard said to another, “These people behave quite strangely. The woman leading them even wears a veil. Keep a close eye on them—they might be spies from an enemy state.”
The other guard promptly nodded and replied, “Yes!”