"Alright! Let's go into town!"
The fourth prince smiled radiantly at Princess Xu.
Princess Xu blinked, wondering if it was just her imagination, but she felt that her prince's smile carried a tiny bit of flattery.
What's this person imagining now?
Forget it, her thought process is beyond the comprehension of a normal person like her.
Shaking her head slightly, Princess Xu shook off the jumbled thoughts in her mind and stomped her feet hard on the horse step.
"drive!"
With a crisp shout, her horse galloped up and charged to the front of the line once again.
"Oh, a distinguished guest arriving on horseback! Is the caravan behind you also yours?"
The soldiers at the city gate who were responsible for collecting the entrance fee were polite but not servile.
Each of them was neither humble nor arrogant, neither proud nor impatient, which made Princess Xu admire Princess Xie even more.
"Yes! Please help us calculate how much the city entrance fee should be."
Princess Xu nimbly flipped over and jumped off the horse.
In fact, she wouldn't need to pay this fee at all if she simply revealed her identity.
Imperial relatives and nobles were a privileged class; even in the capital city right under the emperor's nose, they didn't have to pay.
Besides, putting aside his status, the Fourth Prince is the younger brother of Prince Yue, Helian Jue.
Regardless of the actual relationship, on the surface, they are still close relatives and family.
The fourth prince and his wife traveled a long distance to "visit" their elder brother and sister-in-law. Even if the elder brother and sister-in-law were greedy, they wouldn't ask them for money.
However, Princess Xu did not do so.
She didn't want to alarm the Prince of Yue's residence.
She is now full of curiosity about the new city and wants to observe it up close.
If the Prince of Yue's mansion knew they had arrived, they would definitely come to welcome them with great fanfare.
Unable to go down to the grassroots level, and only being politely flattered and fawned over, Princess Xu couldn't see what she wanted to see at all.
"All guests are welcome, you are too kind!"
The soldiers guarding the city breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Princess Xu was dressed in fine clothes and followed by a large number of guards, yet she was still so polite.
Of course, as a member of the Yue Prince's Mansion, he was naturally not afraid of anyone using their status to cause trouble in the new city.
What a joke! The Yue Prince's Mansion is a local power.
There were also hundreds of guards on the city gates responsible for patrolling and security.
Whenever there is trouble at the city gate, the soldiers will blow the whistles hanging around their necks.
When the whistle blows, the people on the city gate will quickly assemble and rush to the scene of the incident as soon as possible!
If these hundred-odd men are still unable to quell the unrest, the soldiers guarding the city gate will light the beacon fire.
The thousands of elite soldiers stationed outside the city would rush over as soon as they saw the beacon fire.
With such tight defenses and so many soldiers, trying to cause trouble in the new town of Hexian is simply courting death!
Of course, the Yue Prince's Mansion was well-prepared and not afraid of trouble, but they also did not want to cause trouble for no reason.
Their new town is open to visitors from all directions.
Instead of relying on their military strength to deliberately oppress and target merchants.
The soldiers exchanged polite greetings while quickly counting and calculating, finally arriving at a figure:
"A total of one thousand three hundred and twenty-six copper coins!"
The soldiers were somewhat surprised when the number was mentioned.
This distinguished guest has brought quite a large entourage.
Their entry fee was not based on the number of people, but on the number of horses and oxcarts.
The livestock alone cost over a thousand copper coins, not to mention the many servants who followed on foot instead of riding horses.
As the soldiers collected the money, they also counted the long line of men with their eyes.
"Good heavens, there are at least 1,500 people!"
"With so many men, including cavalry, they're enough to attack our county town."
The soldier's heart pounded. He dared not delay, carefully put away the copper coins, and temporarily gave his position to a fellow soldier.
He then ran quickly up the city wall.
In addition to lighting beacon fires, the soldiers on the city walls were also equipped with carrier pigeons that could send messages.
If a major event occurred in the city, they could send messages by carrier pigeon while simultaneously lighting beacon fires.
These homing pigeons were specially bred by artisans at the princess's request and underwent rigorous training.
They can deliver messages to the prince or princess in the first instance.
Once the two masters learned of the situation in the city, they were able to issue orders to mobilize troops immediately!
The number of soldiers in He County is more than a thousand.
There are still three thousand soldiers stationed in the main camp of Crescent Moon City.
Once a war breaks out in the city, the soldiers on the city walls and outside the city will fight to the death.
Besides their duty to defend their homeland and their loyalty to the Yue King's Palace, they were also very clear that—
Reinforcements will arrive soon!
They just need to persevere, and once reinforcements arrive, they can launch a pincer attack from both inside and outside and wipe out the enemy completely.
The soldiers were not afraid; he only wanted to send the message back to the palace as soon as possible.
Ultimately, the decision rests with the Prince or the Empress.
After paying the fee and passing through the city gate, Princess Xu led her horse, but instead of continuing to ride, she wanted to observe slowly and carefully.
However, as she passed through the city gate, she seemed to sense something, raised her head, and glanced at the high city wall.
Elite troops must have been deployed above.
There should still be troops stationed outside the city!
This new town in Hexian County may appear loosely situated, but it is actually very well-defended.
Princess Xu tried to think about it: if she led the 1,500 guards of the palace, could she conquer this small town that looked like it had few people defending it?
The answer is no!
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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