"Drive~Drive~Drive~"
A vigorous yellow gelding with flying hooves, the rider on the horse is nearly fifty, forty-eight to be exact, with a thin build and a stern and bright eye.
He looked straight ahead without squinting, and his riding posture was skillful and light. Finally, the destination appeared in front of him: a wide river.
The knight reined in his horse, jumped off, took water with both hands, and washed his face.
He laughed and said: "It is indeed the Qingchen River. The water is so clear and transparent, not a particle of dust can be seen! It seems that the Holy One has chosen a precious land for you! Hahaha!" The speaker was none other than the one who was demoted to Wu by Emperor Guangwu.
Gu Yanwu, the postmaster at Guer Zhahe Station.
"Master, isn't this river called the Wuguerzha River? Why do you call it the Qingchen River?" Gu Fu, a domestic slave on the side, asked curiously.
"You, I asked you to read more books on weekdays, but you refuse to listen."
Gu Yanwu laughed and explained: "In the eighth year of Yongle's reign, Emperor Chengzu conquered the Tatars. In the fifth month of Wuyin, he drove to the bank of the Wuguerzha River and gave the river the name 'Qingchen River'. This river is famous. At that time, Chief Hu Tiemu
It was really at the upper reaches of the river that the Tatar tribe was defeated."
"My master is so knowledgeable," Gu Fu praised sincerely. But he felt sad in his heart. His master was so talented, but he was demoted by the emperor to blow sand in the extreme north of the desert. It is said that the supreme emperor in Nanjing was the emperor of the ages.
, extremely wise. That’s ridiculous! You really don’t know how to employ people!
Gu Yanwu didn't mind at all. According to his words: "I have already pledged myself to the country, so why bother about personal honor and disgrace." After receiving the order, he immediately followed the order and took his servant Gu Fu to the Wuguerzha River on horseback.
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When the two arrived at the inn, they saw an impressive sign hanging at the door: Qingchen Hippo Station.
In the Ming Dynasty, post offices were set up in all directions from the capital. They were called "Huitong Pavilion" in Beijing and "Shui Ma Post", "delivery office" and "express delivery shop" outside.
There are many types of these relay stations, each with their own functions. The "Huitong Pavilion" is the general hub of the relay stations, which can accommodate foreign envoys and senior officials, and host state banquets; the "express shop" delivers official documents from the imperial court; the "delivery station" transports tributes and
Military supplies; the most important thing is the post station, which not only "passes envoys" (receives official envoys), but also "reports military affairs".
"Who are you looking for?"
A fat waiter came out and asked.
Guanhu is a type of post staff. Posts in the Ming Dynasty were like official guesthouses in later generations. There were various types of people including grooms, donkey drivers, footmen, pavilions, kufs, douci, housekeepers, cooks, etc.
The large Shuima Post has more than a hundred people, and the ordinary ones have dozens of people. For Gu Yanwu, being a small post-master is a relegation; for ordinary people, being able to become a post-master is a big deal.
There is smoke coming out of the ancestral graves!
"Bold! This is the newly appointed postmaster Gu," Gu Fu shouted.
Incredibly, as soon as I heard that the new postmaster had arrived, a white-haired old Doujie (the official in charge of the official warehouse, the field, and the bureau's courtyard) led a group of horsemen, donkey drivers, footmen, and pavilions.
Husband, Kufu, room husband, and cook are all here to welcome you.
Gu Yanwu counted roughly and found that there were more than fifty people. He waved his hand and said with a smile: "No need to be polite, old man, just take me to see them."
Shangguan wanted to be familiar with the environment, and Lao Douji didn't dare to neglect. He bowed and led Gu Yanwu around.
This is a three-entry courtyard with a main gate, a drum tower, a middle gate, front and rear halls, left and right wing rooms, a kitchen, a warehouse, a stable and other facilities. There are also ten upper rooms for officials to live and twenty rooms for the officers who come and go.
A wing or side room. It can receive dozens of guests at the same time.
Gu Yanwu looked at his Yi Cheng residence and office again. They were very spacious. In addition, there were Datong bungalows for other personnel to live in, and even warehouses and temporary prisons.
I couldn’t help but sigh: “I never expected that this small horse-drawn carriage house would be so cavernous!”
He had never lived in an inn before, and he did not know that the imperial court had similar inns on major transportation routes. Because they were required to entertain officials, the living conditions in these inns were no worse than those of local officials.
"How many horses are there usually here? What's the cost?" Gu Yanwu asked.
"Sir, our Qingchen Hema Post is a small post, with only twenty horses, ten donkeys, three oxen, and three carts. Because this post is located outside the Great Wall, the staff is only about fifty people, and the number of times we entertain officials is
It's not much, mainly to convey military information. The expenses are not big, and you can't collect much money from the local people every year. For those large stations located in prosperous places with more than a hundred people, the expenses will be huge." Lao Douji didn't panic
He said calmly.
"Huh? The cost of this inn is not funded by the imperial court, but collected from the local people?"
"The little money allocated by the imperial court is only enough to pay the monthly salary of the post staff, and the bulk has to be collected from the local people."
Only when Gu Yanwu asked did he understand. It turned out that the service responsibilities of the Ming Dynasty post stations could be divided into three major categories: accommodation services, carriage and horse supply, and travel expenses supply. Not only did the dignitaries stay at the post station for free, but they could also get money from the post station in return.
If the money is not given, it is very normal for the postmen and even the postmaster to be beaten. If this is done, the expenses will naturally be large. The court's allocation is not enough, so the local government will directly apportion it to the people, using the local people's extra money.
Pay tribute to keep the inn running.
Things like apportionment are all carried out between grassroots officials and grassroots people. There is no supervision, and it is up to the post officials to decide whether to collect more or less. Those who are kind-hearted will use practical methods to pay taxes; those who are cruel will make false claims and false taxes. In
In the Ming Dynasty, this was not a problem. Although when Zhu Hengjia was in power, anti-corruption efforts were strong, fewer officials came to the post station to fight against autumn wind, and entertainment expenses were reduced, but the trend of false reports and false recruitment was still prohibited.
"Master, it's time to share the food again soon. Can we pay four hundred stones of food per horse? Or more?" Lao Douji asked with a smile. The horses at the post station have to deliver military papers, so they have food.
Not grass, but food.
"One horse has four hundred stones of grain!"
Gu Yanwu had served in the army and knew how much war horses eat. Eighty shi of food for a horse a year is enough, but this station dares to charge 400 shi, which is five times the normal food intake!
"Sir, we don't pay much. In the horse-drawn carriage in Huazhou, one horse is paid four hundred and twenty-two stones of grain," the old Douji said with a cunning light in his eyes.
"Damn it! No matter how you reported before, from today onwards, you will report truthfully and no false reports will be allowed." Gu Yanwu was furious.
He couldn't help but be angry. This era was still at the end of the Little Ice Age, and it was cold in the north. A hectare of cultivated land could only produce seven dan of grain every year. Raising a stagecoach horse required the hard-earned income of more than a dozen farmers for the whole year. If the false report of five more
Times, a stagecoach horse in the north requires more than fifty farmers to raise, which is simply unconscionable.
Where did the overreported money go? Don't even think about it, it must have been spent by the officials who came to the post station to fight against the autumn wind and the internal staff of the post station.
Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world. As a post official, how can he be indifferent to the corruption in the post station? Gu Yanwu couldn't sit still, and secretly made up his mind: conduct a serious investigation, and then report to the emperor to eradicate the soil of corruption in the post station.<
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This chapter has been completed!