In the past five days, in addition to compiling the book "Botany" at home in the city, He Zhiyuan also took a day to accompany his father and Boss Zhou to hold an opening ceremony for the toll road.

After coming to this world, He Zhiyuan has participated in this kind of ritual many times, he didn't expect that people in his previous life liked to engage in this kind of ritual, and people in the Ming Dynasty also liked to engage in this kind of ritual. It seems that the people of later generations like to engage in rituals, which is in the same vein as the ancients.

This cement road is about three zhang wide, from Juzhou to the cross road town, the whole journey is exactly one hundred miles, every twenty-five miles set up a toll station, a total of Juzhou, Shijing, Hejia Town, Yanbin, cross road five toll stations. In addition to the two toll stations at the north and south terminals, the other three toll stations also have a service area where horses, donkeys and mules can be fed with fodder, as well as a simple restaurant where people can rest their feet.

The reason why there is a service area every twenty-five miles is because when the horses are running, they have to rest, drink water, and eat grass to replenish their physical strength every thirty miles or so, otherwise they will fall ill due to excessive physical exertion.

Before the opening ceremony, the He family of the Zhou family invited Lord Liang to attend the ceremony, but Lord Liang politely declined on the grounds that he was busy with official business. It is not surprising that Lord Liang did this, he cherishes his official reputation, this kind of toll road is the first time in the Ming Dynasty, there will definitely be many people who have a lot of opinions on road tolls, and Lord Liang will inevitably be scolded for participating in such a ceremony.

Therefore, the Zhou family and the He family did not force Lord Liang, because Lord Liang did not participate, and those officials who tended to be attached to the flames also refused to participate for various reasons, and in the end, no official in the official palace participated in the ceremony.

Seeing this situation, Zhou Fuliu couldn't help but complain to his father: "I was against the ceremony at the beginning, but you have to insist." Look at this situation, the government has not come to visit, so that those business peers who oppose road tolls are lively, right? ”

Zhou Xuhai's face turned red when he said this, but what his daughter said made sense, and the reason why she objected at the beginning was that no one from the government would come to participate in this ceremony. But Zhou Xuhai felt that Lord Liang would sell face to him no matter what, but he didn't expect Lord Liang to really not come.

He Zhiyuan saw the embarrassment of his prospective father-in-law, and hurriedly came out to play a round: "It doesn't matter if you come or not, I dare to guarantee that after this road is opened, there will be fewer and fewer merchants on the dirt road." In the end, I am afraid that they will still ask the government to build the other half into a concrete road. There are also those who oppose the toll collection who will not survive a year, and they will still compete with the government to fund the construction of cement roads in various places. ”

Saying this, Zhou Xuhai's face looked much better, and he also echoed and said: "Businessmen are profiteering, and when they see that we make money by building roads, they will definitely follow suit." ”

Although there were no officials to support the ceremony, the ceremony was still to be held, but it was much smaller. After a few firecrackers and fireworks, it was hastily over.

Some people who walked out of the city looked at the toll checkpoint next to the cement road and the charging Xiao Er hesitated, and a bold middle-aged man walked over and asked tentatively: "Dare to ask this little brother, do you really need money to walk on this cement road?" ”

"This uncle, you really don't want money, you just have to go." Xiao Er replied politely.

"So I'm really leaving?" The noon man said.

"Let's go." Xiao Er replied while making a gesture of please.

After these pedestrians have passed,

A carriage followed. Xiao Er hurriedly stopped and asked the coachman: "May I ask this guest officer, where are you going to get off the cement road?" ”

The driver's eyes widened, and he asked dissatisfiedly: "Why do you really want to collect money?" ”

"Yes, guest officer, it's five cents for the carriage to go to the next toll booth." Xiao Er asked politely.

"Then why don't they take money?" The driver asked, pointing to a pedestrian walking by.

"Our cement road is bought by the owner with money, and then spent money to build it himself, so we have to collect money, but the loss of pedestrians to the road is almost negligible, but the carriage has vehicles to run over, and the horse's hooves trample on the road, so we have to collect money." Xiao Er still said politely.

"Then why didn't you collect money the first few times, why did you collect money today?" The coachman asked.

"A few days ago, I let everyone experience the comparison, let everyone feel the benefits of the cement road. Our owner said that there will be a fee from today. Xiao Er still said politely.

At this time, the man in the carriage said to the coachman, "Isn't it just a few pennies?" Why bother with this tongue, give him us to hurry up. ”

"Master, why don't we take the dirt road?" The coachman was still reluctant to pay, wanting to save a few pennies for his master.

"! How stable this cement road is, the lord is not bad for those copper plates! The man in the carriage said.

"Yes! Master! The coachman replied.

Then he said to the charging Xiao Er: "How many copper plates do you want to go to Hejia Town?" ”

"Ten cents."

The coachman took out ten copper plates from his body and gave them to Xiao Er, and then the carriage drove onto the concrete road and drove away.

Next, several more wagons paid and walked onto the concrete road. None of the carriages that passed through here took the dirt road next to it to save money.

After a while, a cart full of two horses came straight over, and Xiao'er stopped and asked, "Guest officer, where are you going?" ”

"Hejiazhen."

"A total of two stops, twenty dollars." Xiao Er replied.

"Isn't it Shiwen? Why did it become twenty wen when it came to me? The coachman was immediately displeased.

"Guest officer, you are a big cart with two horses, and the goods on the cart are enough to weigh a thousand catties, right? The loss of road surface is much greater than that of ordinary horse-drawn carriages, so it costs 20 yuan. Xiao'er patiently explained.

"Can we collect less, it's not easy for us to do business." The coachman begged.

"No bargaining, this price is the same for everyone. No bullying! Xiao'er said, and then said to the coachman: "If you want to save money, you don't have to spend money on the dirt road next to it, and you can still get to Hejia Town." ”

The coachman looked at the uneven dirt road next to him, shook his head and said, "Forget it! Let's take the concrete road. In winter, the road is slippery and uneven, and it is dangerous to pull so many goods, and if the car rolls over, it will lose a lot. ”

"That's it. Your intention in life is to be safe and smooth. You can't afford to lose a big deal because of a small thing. Xiao Er's mouth was very sweet, and he hurriedly said.

He Zhiyuan, his father, Zhou Xuhai and others watched at this toll booth for a whole morning. In total, two or three hundred carriages passed on the concrete road, and not a single carriage took the dirt road.

In fact, this also has a lot to do with the timing they chose, a few days ago there was a heavy snowfall, these days at noon by the sun, the frozen ice and snow melted, the road is very muddy, and then freeze at night, the road in the morning

It's harder to walk. On the other hand, concrete roads have no rut marks, and although the road surface is a little slippery, it is better than uneven dirt roads. In these years, only large families or businessmen can afford to buy carriages, and ordinary people can only rely on two legs to measure slowly.

Several of them looked at the carriage driving on the cement road, and they were very happy in their hearts, and the unhappiness of today's opening ceremony had already been thrown out of the clouds. He Zhiyuan said to everyone:

"Everything is difficult at the beginning, as long as they can charge smoothly today, and when they get used to it later, it will be much easier, and it is estimated that the situation of other toll stations is much worse."

Several people nodded yes, and Zhou Xuhai said: "It's okay to charge like this at first, but after a long time, they will find loopholes." If they all say that they will take one stop, but in fact they will walk three or five stops, won't we lose money? ”

As soon as Zhou Xuhai reminded him, everyone else also reacted, this is indeed a loophole. In fact, He Zhiyuan had thought of it a long time ago, but he had a lot of things to do these days, and he didn't care about such a trivial matter.

For this section of cement road, he didn't pay attention to it at all, of course, the purpose of his construction of this road was only for the convenience of transportation in Hejia Town, and the transportation of goods, as for the toll was secondary.

At that time, he didn't have so much silver in his hands, so he invested tens of thousands of taels of silver to build roads, and felt that he would return his capital no matter what. But now that he has more money in his hand, he doesn't care about this money anymore, and he even feels that it is more beneficial to the development of Hejia Town to cancel the fee.

In fact, it is not difficult to solve this loophole, you only need to give a ticket valid on the day at the toll station, indicating the arrival location, and wait for the ticket to be checked at this station.

He Zhiyuan hadn't said anything about this method yet, Zhou Xuhai had already asked and answered himself: "Let's quickly print a kind of bill, and then give a bill to each carriage, and the color of each station is different, and when the carriage leaves the toll station, check the bill." ”

"Well, that's the way to go." He Shaoyun immediately agreed, then thought about it, and said: "If they pass the toll station and get off the cement road before the next toll station, how will this distance be charged?" ”

He Zhiyuan hurriedly said: "Such a little road has to be charged, it will inevitably cause everyone's disgust, the water is clear, there are no fish, I don't think as long as you don't get to the next toll station, don't charge." ”

Zhou Xuhai heard He Zhiyuan's words and agreed, "Well, you have a point, if the water is clear, there will be no fish." We have opinions on setting up card fees, so don't be too strict at first, let's do what Zhiyuan said. ”

Then he continued: "However, the three toll stations of the middle station should be divided into two, and a toll station should be set up in the south and north of the town. ”

"Why is that?" He Shaoyun asked.

Zhou Xuhai replied with a smile: "In-laws, think about it, if you don't do this, you will be charged a lot less." Taking Hejia Town as an example, if the toll station is located in the south of the town, you only need to buy Shijing from Juzhou to Hejia Town. Isn't the cost of the twenty-five miles from Shijing to Hejia Town waived in vain? If there is one in the south and one in the north, whether it is from south to north or from north to south, as long as you go to Hejia Town, you must pay a fee. ”

After He Zhiyuan heard what he said, he secretly admired the shrewdness of the prospective father-in-law in front of him. He had thought of this kind of thing in advance, no wonder the business was so big.

(End of chapter)

The little people of the Ming Dynasty

The little people of the Ming Dynasty

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