The Dark and Foolish King: The Fierce and Crazy Concubine Has Infinite Strength

Tang City is indeed a city where every citizen is a soldier. Along the way, they found that the men, women, young and old in the city all walked with vigorous steps and were in high spirits.

Even the old man with white hair and beard walked without bending or hunching, with his head held high and his chest puffed out, looking very vigorous. One could tell at a glance that this was a physical fitness that came from years of martial arts practice.

"Please make way. Please let me pass."

Just as they were sighing at the prosperity of Tang City, a man's low shout suddenly came from behind them. They hurried to the side of the road and turned their heads to look back.

Upon seeing this, Chanmu and Xia Younan’s eyes widened.

Behind them were three open-air carriages with three majestic beasts on them, driven and escorted by dozens of officers and soldiers.

The thing on the car was none other than what Lu Xiuyuan had mentioned before and what Xia Younan had suspected - a cannon!

It's really a cannon! Each cannon is equipped with a two-wheeled gun carriage under it, and on the gun carriage is the cannon consisting of the barrel, chamber, breech block and other parts!

It’s exactly the same cannon that Xia Younan saw in the video or book!

"Brother, look at this..." Xia Younan pointed at the carriage transporting the artillery with his eyes wide open, his face full of disbelief.

Zenmu was also shocked and confused, and couldn't help but sigh: "Strange, how could there be cannons here? Logically speaking, the technological level of this era should not be able to produce cannons."

Lu Xiuyuan looked at the three cannons he had never seen before and asked in surprise: "This should be the weapon I mentioned to you before. I heard that its power is terrifying. How come you also had it in your era?"

Xia Younan nodded in agreement, "Well, I've seen it in a book. This type of artillery should have existed in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties."

"Then who invented the cannon here?" Lu Xiuyuan asked again.

Zenmu was also puzzled, "I don't know, let's keep going and ask someone when we have time."

Business was more important, so the group didn't dwell on it too much. They just discussed it for a few sentences and continued on their way.

Not far ahead, there was another noise coming from the front. Looking ahead, I saw a team coming towards me with music and drums.

In front and behind the team were officials wearing dark red vests, and in the middle was a man riding a large maroon horse.

The man wore a three-pronged purple gold crown on his head, a red brocade robe with flowers from Xichuan, and black cloth boots with the patterns of flowing clouds and wild cranes on his feet. He was very handsome and imposing.

With this attire and posture, it stands to reason that the person should be either the top scholar or the groom, but what surprised Lu Xiuyuan and others was that this was a woman!

She has striking eyebrows, phoenix eyes, a face like a peach, and is a woman full of heroism!

Xia Younan couldn't suppress his curiosity and pulled over an auntie passing by to ask, "Auntie, who is that person riding a horse in front? He looks so majestic!"

An old lady passing by took one look at her, pointed at the person on the horse and said enthusiastically, "She? She is the top scorer in this year's imperial examination. She just received a reward and is returning home to announce the good news."

"Ah?" Xia Younan couldn't help but exclaimed, opening his eyes wide and asking in surprise, "Is she really the top scholar? But isn't she a woman?"

The aunt looked at her with contempt and retorted unhappily, "She is a woman, what's wrong with being a woman? Don't you know that men and women are equal in Tang City? Here, women enjoy the same rights as men.

"Don't say that the number one scholar is a woman. There are many female officials in our court. Their abilities are no worse than men, and they can still serve their hometown."

"Wow!" After hearing her words, Xia Younan and the others exclaimed in disbelief.

What surprised Xia Younan and Chanmu was that in this feudal era, there were places where men and women were as equal as in modern times.

Lu Xiuyuan was surprised that since ancient times only men have served as officials, but here women can take the imperial examination and serve as officials in the court, which is really rare.

After wandering around Tang City for a while, they discovered that the strategy of "gender equality" was truly fully implemented here.

Unlike other places where people are not allowed to go out of the front door or go out of the back door and women are not virtuous unless they have talent, women here can go to school openly, take exams, and do any job that men can do.

There are many shops on the street that are owned by women, private schools that have female teachers who teach and educate, and clinics that have female doctors who save lives and heal the wounded.

Going further, a man driving a horse-drawn carriage came into their sight.

The man's carriage was loaded with more than a dozen sacks of grain. He was standing on the carriage, shouting loudly about his business.

"It's harvest time! Who has food to sell? The price is high, don't lie, come and sell your food!"

"My home, my home!" An old lady quickly came out of the house next door and waved to the grain vendor, "My family has a good harvest this year, I want to sell two-thirds of the grain to you."

"Fuck! This..." Xia Younan pointed at the scene, his jaw dropping in shock.

Unlike the 21st century, farmers in this era had to pay public grain for farming, and had to hand over most of the grain to the landlords or rulers, keeping only a small portion for themselves to make a living.

This auntie is actually going to sell two-thirds of her own grain in public without considering the public grain tax. Isn't she afraid of being held accountable by the government?

Thinking of this, Xia Younan couldn't hold back her curiosity and asked Zhu Li to find out.

Zhu Li came back a short while later, staring at Lu Xiuyuan and the others with round eyes, "This is incredible, they actually said that the country does not collect public grain!

"The city owner distributed the land to each household. Without landlords, the crops grown by farmers could be bought and sold freely, and they didn't even have to pay taxes."

Xia Younan took a deep breath after hearing this, and turned to look at Zenmu with wide eyes, "The agricultural policy here is exactly the same as in our time and space!"

Zenmu was also surprised, "I didn't expect the policies here to be so advanced."

"It's just a city, but it's so unique and prosperous. It seems that the city lord is a capable person, or there are powerful people in the city assisting him." Lu Xiuyuan sighed, feeling both admiration and wonder for this city.

A few people were walking towards the City Lord's Mansion while chatting. When they were one street away from the City Lord's Mansion, a shout of the crowd and the neighing of horses suddenly came from the front.

Looking closely, I saw a mad horse running around everywhere, neighing, shaking its body desperately, and constantly raising its front hooves to stand up, trying to throw the person on its back off the horse.

On the horse's back was a young man in bright clothes, who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a slender build, fair skin, thick and prominent eyebrows, and bright eyes that seemed to glow.

The high nose and naturally red lips look as if they were coated with lip balm, making the two rows of teeth look even whiter than jade.

He looked like a pampered young man, but he was in trouble now. The horse under him was throwing him back and forth, and he had to hold the reins tightly to avoid falling off the horse.

"Go away, everyone, get out of the way, the horse is frightened, don't let it get hurt!" The young man steadied himself and shouted to the people around him, his handsome face full of anxiety.

Seeing this scene, Qu Xiaoyou, who knew how to control a horse, used his lightness skills to run towards the young man without saying a word, and jumped behind the young man on the horse with a tip of his toes.

Before the boy could react, he snatched the reins from his hands and pulled and tugged them rhythmically, trying to tame the mad horse under him.

After the boy reacted, he reflexively turned his head to look at the person behind him.

When he saw the stunning face so close to him, his mind buzzed, his mouth slightly opened, and his whole body froze...

Qu Xiaoyou frowned, pursed her lips, and kept pulling the reins in her hands. After a short while, the horse's struggling and crazy movements slowed down, until finally it stopped quietly.

Qu Xiaoyou breathed a sigh of relief and said to the boy who was still staring at her in a daze, "It's okay."

Then, she leaped into the air and landed as steadily as a feather. Her red skirt fluttered in the wind, looking magnificent, like a fairy from exile.

This scene mesmerized the young man's eyes. It was not until Qu Xiaoyou walked back to Xia Younan that he woke up as if from a dream. He quickly jumped off the horse and chased after her.

"Girl, girl, wait a moment!" he shouted, ran to Qu Xiaoyou and blocked their way.

Qu Xiaoyou stopped and asked in confusion: "Do you have anything else to do?"

The young man bowed to Qu Xiaoyou, then clasped his fists and said respectfully, "Thank you for helping me tame the crazy horse. My name is Jun Ziyao. May I ask your name?"

"Qu Xiaoyou." Qu Xiaoyou replied indifferently and continued on his way.

“Miss Qu!” The young man obviously would not let her leave easily, and stopped her again to invite her sincerely, “If it weren’t for your help just now, I’m afraid it would have caused a disaster.

"Miss, you have helped me so much. I should treat you and your friends with good food and wine."

"It's just a small favor. I appreciate your kindness. But we have things to do, so we won't stay any longer." Qu Xiaoyou still rejected his invitation indifferently and walked around him to leave.

The young man knew that if he continued to try to stop them, he would annoy the beauty, so he didn't dare to stop them. However, he was unwilling to watch Qu Xiaoyou leave. He looked at their backs and pondered for a few seconds, then shouted at them with the last glimmer of hope.

"I see you are carrying bags, I guess you are new to Tang City from other places. What are you going to do in Tang City? My father is the mayor of the city, maybe I can help you!"

Sure enough, as soon as he said this, Xia Younan and the others all stopped in unison, then turned around and looked at him tacitly.