"When you get here, even if you go to Jiangbei!"

There is no need for a slave's reminder at all, Gong Chengqi, who is riding on a horse, knows that he has arrived at the boundary of Jiangbei, and the reason why he can recognize it is very simple.

Road!

The roads in Jiangbei are completely different from those in other places!

For anyone who comes to Jiangbei for the first time, they can often directly feel the difference in Jiangbei before they see the boundary, and the most direct feeling is probably the road - the official road in Jiangbei is not only different from the potholed official road that has fallen into disrepair under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, but even the official road in the old era is very different from it.

The road in Jiangbei is one zhang and five feet wide, not only can accommodate two four-wheeled carriages passing in parallel, and can avoid the third one, such a spacious official road, but not the biggest feature of the road in Jiangbei, compared with the official road in other places, I am afraid that these roads are still counted, these roads are not rammed earth roads.

The kind of rammed earth road is usually fine, if it rains, after the wheel is pressed, passers-by step on it, immediately said that it will show its original shape, potholes, all mud, and the rain stops that the mud on the road will be more sticky, the soles of the shoes are stained with a thick layer, you have to bring a branch or firewood in your hand, walk a few steps and stop, find a tree to lean on, and scrape off the mud on the soles of your shoes. Along the way, from Zhili to the south, Gong Chengqi did not take such a road.

But after coming to Jiangbei, the potholed road became smooth, not to mention, and the road surface was hard, as if it was paved with stone slabs. Actually, this is also a kind of dirt road, but there are some things added to it.

"Master...... Look at my mouth, sir, this is what they call the gravel road! ”

Sun Da, who led the horse for his master, asked as he walked.

Before I arrived in Jiangbei, I heard what Shandong people said about the sand road in Jiangnan, and the tone was full of envy and even jealousy.

"That's it!"

Walking in the middle of the high two sides of the official road, the arc protrudes from the ground, Gong Chengqi's expression looks very dignified, originally he only thought that this road is just paved with "sand", there is no big deal, but this will, walking on this road, he immediately felt the difference in this road.

It's not that this hard state is like a slate road, nor is it that the envoy in Jiangbei is a powerful man, who knows that the people can pick up sand from the ground and the river to pave the road, there are no mountains in many places in Jiangbei, but there are a lot of sand like ginger in the fields and by the river, in the past, those things were piled up in the fields because they were useless and damaged farm tools, but now they are not only used to build roads, but even the government will pay to buy them - every two hundred catties of sand can be exchanged for a penny, not much money, but for children and the elderly in the countryside, But there is one more entry, and it can also turn the scourge of destroying the ploughshares in the fields into money. After the government collects the sand, it will use the sand to pave the road, so as to make the road more solid.

"Those gravel roads, even when it rains, are still unobstructed......

Even if he hadn't arrived in Jiangbei yet, Gong Chengqi could hear outsiders' descriptions of Jiangbei's official roads, but now when he walked directly in such an official road, thinking about the contrast between the potholed roads along the way and the hard sandy roads he saw in front of him, his mood seemed a little heavy.

The soldiers and horses have not moved, and the grain and grass go first!

What is the reason why Jiangbei has built the road so wide and so good?

Isn't it just for the sake of mobilizing troops?

Isn't it just to transport grain and grass?

In fact, Gong Chengqi really guessed correctly, the reason why Jiangbei spent a lot of effort to renovate the official road was to make it more convenient to mobilize soldiers and horses, and to make the four-wheeled carriage unimpeded in Jiangbei on sunny and rainy days. Although Jiangbei has the convenience of canal water conservancy, but the land march and battle, is always inseparable from the land, and it is precisely because of this that Zhu Mingzhong will think of the later generations, in the Huanghuai area, the use of dozens of sand roads, the Huanghuai area with the sand nodules in the soil paved road, although it can not be compared with the gravel road, but in the Huanghuai area where the stone is insufficient, it is an excellent paving material, especially because it has a certain viscosity so there is a more and more solid characteristics, and as solid as stone, The road can be paved with it rain or shine, but in the wheel crushing, because of the roadbed flooding and other reasons, the road will lead to potholes, so it needs to be constantly leveled, and because of this, the government will purchase sand and hand it over to the local Baojia to be responsible for the daily maintenance of the road, so as to ensure the smoothness of the road.

Even this kind of sand road, for this era, is also an epoch-making existence, this kind of one foot five feet wide road, even enough to be comparable to many European roads in the early twentieth century, not to mention that in this era, the natural road is now to a certain extent, has become a business card of Jiangbei, almost every merchant who comes to Jiangbei, will be impressed by its road.

The convenience in the eyes of the merchants is commercial, but for Gong Chengqi, the prefect who is about to go to Huangzhou, what he sees is a threat, the threat from Jiangbei, which almost made him reach the point where he can't eat and can't sleep at night, and this is why he chose to come to Jiangbei.

In fact, he originally went to Huangzhou to take office, he did not need to go to Jiangbei, he could choose to go to Huangzhou through Henan through Xiangyang, so that he could avoid Jiangbei, but in order to be able to directly understand the thieves in Jiangbei, he took a few henchmen and entourage, pretending to be a businessman who came to the south to do business, and rode to Jiangbei. When I passed through various places along the way, I didn't forget to stop and find an inn to stay, and by the way, I asked about the latest movements of the Jiangbei Loyal and Righteous Army.

And the farther he went south, he found that the hearts of the people were getting closer to the south, and when he mentioned the Great Qing Kingdom, he hated it even more, and in his words, he had the idea of looking forward to the loyal army in the south, and he didn't know why it was at first.

Later, through his understanding of Jiangbei, he found that the people hated the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the slaughter when the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it was more about the exploitation of officials - nearly 200,000 elites of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty were stationed in Shandong and Henan, and all the food and clothing were provided by the localities.

"If it goes on like this, it won't work!"

After coming to Jiangbei, looking at the appearance of the people of Jiangbei living and working in peace and contentment, compared with the grief of the people of Shandong, Gong Chengqi had only one thought in his heart, he must find a way to solve the problem of the Qing Dynasty.

"If we don't solve this problem, I'm afraid that in the future, if we don't wait for the thieves from the south to come over, the people over there will rise up......"

When Gong Chengqi said this, he saw a checkpoint standing in the middle of the originally unobstructed road in front of him, and it was still written on it.

"Yutai County Toll Station."

Looking at the long queue on the right side of the toll station, Gong Chengqi couldn't help but be a little surprised.

"What is this for?"

"Hey, you must be the first time to come to Jiangbei, what are you doing, didn't you see that it says "toll station", what is a toll station? It's not just a place to collect cash. ”

The merchant leading the horse in front of him said.

"What? Toll booths? What is the fee? ”

Gong Chengqi's expression couldn't help but become weird,

"Doesn't it mean that Jiangbei does not have harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes? How can I still charge for crossing? ”

"Hey, haven't you heard, I opened this mountain, and I planted this tree. If you want to cross this road, leave the money to buy the road. ”

Hearing what the businessman in front of him said, Gong Chengqi immediately said.

"This, isn't this the work of bandits!"

Resentful and scolding, Gong Chengqi was surprised to find that the merchant looked at him with strange eyes, seemed a little surprised, of course, a little puzzled, and then said to him.

"Hey, I said, little brother, it's not right for you to say that, this road is indeed built by someone, and the trees on the side of the road are also planted by the government, and people charge fees, so of course it's not right?"

"No, there is a road without a fee, you can also go and walk!"

How did these people change sex?

Seeing these ordinary traders who usually passed the tax customs, they would actually speak for the government one by one, Gong Chengqi's face was full of surprise, these people, when did they not feel sorry for the silver.

"Isn't this too strange?"

When he walked to the passage of the toll booth, he saw a "official" in a blue cloth robe in the small wooden room look at him, and then said.

"Horses in the article."

People are free, horses are a penny.

That's it?

By the time he got the ticket that said "Cao County Toll Station" on it, he hadn't even reacted yet.

Horses charge a penny?

That's how much it costs to clear customs?

Only horses? People for free?

paid a "toll" of five cents for five horses, and when he was leaving, Gong Chengqi deliberately looked at the public notice board on the side, which clearly wrote "1 text for a wheelbarrow, 1 text for a horse, 2 for a two-wheeled carriage, 4 for a four-wheeled carriage, and 6 for a heavy-duty four-wheeled carriage......"

No matter how simple the charging rules are, the price is not expensive, and it can even be said that it is not worth mentioning, but it is just a penny. No wonder everyone looked at him that way, because they didn't take the money seriously.

"This gentleman, don't think about receiving a penny, think about it, on such an official road, what to do to transport goods is more trouble-free, cloudy and rainy, this road is not wrong, if it is replaced by other official roads, the sunny day is fine, but usually let the rain soak, the road is rotten, blocked in the inn for several days, there are no such things on this road, not to mention anything else, just this saved foot money, are more than this bit of money, besides, there is a service station on this road, well, it is the past post station, but the past post station, In the past, it was only for the old men who were officials in the government to live, but now that, as long as there is silver, anyone can live, although it is not possible to change horses in the post station as in the past, but in the food and lodging, give the horse fodder, that is all good, the most important thing is safety, after all, it is not the government, this chaotic province has to touch the black shop! ……”

Post.

Gong Chengqi is no stranger to the post station, which is divided into three parts: post, station and shop. After all, since King Qin swept Liuhe and unified the world, in order to link the world with the capital, a post station system was established. The post station is the transportation organization for the government to receive guests and arrange government materials. The station is an organization that transmits important documents and military information, and is dedicated to the military system. The shop is led by the local department, state and county government, and is responsible for the delivery of official documents and letters. The shop is used to deliver official documents. All official documents exchanged between states and counties are transmitted by the delivery shop.

The post stations distributed in the world are dozens of miles and hundreds of miles, because the post station is a place for people who transmit official documents and military information or officials who travel to and from the place of food and lodging and changing horses on the way, and the management of the post station has been strictly regulated in all dynasties, and the basic rules are the same: the post station shall not be used or abused unless performing official duties. It's just that every post station will be abused.

By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, although the attributes of the post stations had not changed, they were extremely inflated, and these post stations also fell into the quagmire of corruption. At that time, officials with a little power not only demanded that the stallion be kept for personal use, but also often enjoyed a service higher than their own. The post station's own funds were not much after being exploited layer by layer, and the post soldiers were miserable, but they couldn't afford to offend, so they had to ask the local government for money to maintain their operations. And the local people had to distribute the money to the people, so that the people were miserable.

Gong Chengqi, who had also lived in the post station along the way, naturally knew the pros and cons of the post station, but as an official, he would rather enjoy the convenience brought to him by the post station than accuse it of its disadvantages. And now, when Meng heard that the post station had become a place where ordinary people and traders could stay, he naturally felt even more strange, and he was even more curious.

Walked along this smooth and spacious official road for dozens of miles, from a distance, the wall of the service station outside the ground stands among a newly planted willow tree, just on the edge of the official road, when you get closer, you can see that the wall is about one zhang high and made of red bricks, it seems quite thick, to enter the wall from the iron gate, you can see that the wall is about two feet thick, as for the wall, there is a wooden corridor for people to stand, you don't need to ask to know that it is a place for people to stand when the bandits come.

Horse-drawn carriages are parked in the spacious courtyard, and the stalls are tied to the horses, and the so-called service station is very lively. There were several more houses in the courtyard.

"Look, it's different from the post station......

When I was muttering like this in my heart, someone had already greeted me.

"Sir, are you staying or eating, there are both restaurants and accommodation rooms in the station......

The people in this service station are as enthusiastic as the guys in the store, not to mention to him, even to the people around him, the same, their enthusiasm makes Gong Chengqi feel a little uncomfortable, how can he not associate the person in front of him with the post guards in the post station, those post guards are all adult goods, and the ability to recognize people is extremely good, what are they so attentive for?