Without it!

Nothing more than for the silver!

The reason why those former post guards were very diligent one by one was nothing more than silver, because they did not eat the iron rice bowl of the government, but the porcelain rice bowl of more work and more reward.

In the past, the post station was a place for people who passed official documents and military information or officials who traveled to and from the place of food and lodging and changing horses on the way, and all the expenses were borne by the imperial court. However, with the continuous and gradual expansion of the bureaucratic system, the frequent business trips of officials, and the lack of institutional constraints, all kinds of private receptions of the bureaucracy were also transferred to the state post stations, ushering in and sending them, eating and drinking, so that the expenditure of the post stations increased sharply, the local people complained bitterly, and the state funds were insufficient, so they had to be apportioned to the localities, so that the post stations would become a bottomless pit.

And this is also one of the reasons for the abolition of the post station at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen announced the abolition of the world post station, this inadvertent reform, but in the end it took the life of the Ming Dynasty, and there was a man named Li Zicheng among the thousands of post soldiers who were laid off.

However, at that time, the post station was not completely abolished, but only a third, and after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the post station was strengthened. After Zhu Mingzhong captured Jiangbei, the annual expenditure of tens of thousands of taels of silver in the face of hundreds of post stations in Jiangbei did not seem to be much, but he knew very well how the post stations in Chinese history began in the middle and late dynasties and evolved into bottomless black holes. Even because the post station system became increasingly corrupt, it could not effectively convey official documents, orders, etc.

Because of this, how to improve the post station system has become a matter that must be solved. The traditional government-run post station only transmits official documents, does not send private letters, and the transmission of ordinary people's letters can only rely on the piggyback, but this method of transmission time is long and unsafe, and there is a civil letter bureau that specializes in delivering private letters in the Yongle period, so as to facilitate the people to send letters.

In the process, the post offices in Jiangbei and Changzhou absorbed the advantages of the Minxin Bureau, and in view of the weaknesses of the Minxin Bureau, they improved in terms of tariff adjustment, business reform, and improved work efficiency, and replaced the Minxin Bureau by means of legislative prohibition.

In this process, a series of reforms such as the issuance of stamps, the establishment of mailboxes, and the establishment of messengers have made it possible for the postal system to draw on the advanced management experience of later generations around the New Year, and the government's official document delivery also depends on this system, thus stripping the most important responsibility from it.

At the same time, at the same time as the large-scale renovation of the official road in Jiangbei, the drastic reform of the post station is also in progress, in the reform of the post station, and the maintenance and maintenance of the official road to learn from the highway toll system of later generations, Zhu Mingzhong directly borrowed from the high-speed service area of the later generations, and opened the post station that was originally only for the government to the outside world, and carried out market-oriented management, so that it can bear its own profits and losses, of course, as the maintenance of the post station, within one mile on both sides of the official road, in addition to the original post station, the non-town department prohibits the people from setting up inns and wild shops, Thus ensuring the interests of the post station, as for the original inn, the wild shop was merged into the post station, after all, the establishment of the postal service, diverted most of the post station guards.

After a drastic reform, the post station has been completely stripped out of Jiangbei, not only Jiangbei no longer needs to bear the expenses of the post station, and even a certain amount of service station profits can be charged every month, although there are only more than 1,000 taels per month, but compared to the burden of the past, it has been a very big progress, and more importantly, the establishment of this service station is really convenient for the past merchants.

Even after Gong Chengqi took a comfortable hot bath in this service station, he was refreshed, and he was also amazed by the difference between this service station and the post station, and when eating, he was even more surprised by the convenience of the service station. In addition to the usual dishes that can be ordered, there are also so-called "fast food".

"This fast food only costs a few dozen yuan for one person, and the cheapest one only costs a dozen yuan, which is two steamed buns and four vegetarian dishes, plus a porridge, but this one who is out of the house can't bitter himself, no matter what, he has to add a meat dish, as long as twenty yuan!"

The young man, who seemed to be more of a man than a post man, smiled shyly.

"But sir, you always look like a literate gentleman, you will definitely not order this fast food, Master Hu in the kitchen cooks a good dish, if you don't order two dishes, sir, you can try it?"

Of course, Gong Chengqi did not disappoint the young man, he not only ordered a few dishes, but also ordered some wine, and even ordered 30 yuan of fast food for his subordinates, so that the young man was naturally more attentive in waiting.

That night, when the night was getting darker, Gong Chengqi, who was in the room, silently thought in his heart.

"Accommodation, lodging, plus horse feed, so that the day's expenses are at most about 500 Wen, one or two hundred miles, not only enough, but also have the remaining ......"

One hundred miles and one tael, this is the travel expenses of officials in Jiangbei, because the post station has been changed to a service station, so the official post station no longer provides any free services, so it has formulated a travel subsidy of one or two per hundred miles, of course, this one or two refers to the officials below the seven grades, with the rise of the grade, its travel expenses have also increased, if it is a product official, it is a hundred miles and five taels of silver. There is no other subsidy other than travel, spend less, and the rest falls into private hands, spending more, out of pocket.

"Counting, if this is the case in the whole country, I will go from Beijing to Huangzhou, at most fifty taels of silver, but if I am at the post station along the way, I am afraid that the cost of eating will not be less than a hundred taels ......."

After a slight comparison, Gong Chengqi couldn't help but praise secretly.

"This Zhu Mingzhong really has some talent for governing the world!"

Although he regarded him as a thief, Gong Chengqi still had to admire Zhu Mingzhong's post station reform in Jiangbei, but in the end, he inevitably made excuses for the imperial court.

"However, how can such a post station be pushed to the whole country, and what if it is a remote place that is not accessible for business and travel? Besides, wouldn't this official road be repaired like this, but also a waste of money and labor? ”

However, in the following days, as he continued to go south into Jiangbei, as he deepened his understanding, everything he learned completely subverted his thoughts.

Although the official road in Jiangbei is very smooth, but the toll stations that levy tolls abound on the road, especially in the bridges and ferries that must be passed, a few pennies will be charged every time, not much, but to the south, looking at the number of passers-by, Gong Chengqi finally understood.

"This road and there need the government to pay for money! It's simply that the merchants in the past are making money to trim! ”

Although the toll is really not much, the income under the sand tower is always quite considerable. The government may not be able to use it for profit, but it has no problem maintaining the roads, in other words, the government has not increased the burden at all, and has enjoyed the convenience of the roads.

"It's really the people's road, the people build it......"

sighed at Jiangbei, which seemed to be a place that had not been apportioned, but enjoyed the benefits of the road, thinking of the words written on the wall that I saw on the official road service station, and secretly mocked myself. Gong Chengqi seemed to have grasped a looming aura in his mind, but that aura was only a flash, but he didn't catch it, so that in the next few days, he spent all day thinking about what that aura was.

After pondering and meditating for a few days, Gong Chengqi, who had no answer, continued to walk south, and when he entered Shouchun County, he looked at the vendors waiting to enter the city at the city gate.

"Tolls, Taxes, ......"

On the same day, in the inn in Shouchun City, Gong Chengqi wrote these words on the paper, and finally, he also wrote "silver" on the paper.

There is no doubt that all this was for the sake of silver, and the government could get more money by virtue of tolls and taxes on goods.

In fact, Gong Chengqi is no stranger to tolls and excise taxes, and can even be said to be extremely familiar, after all, there are similar institutions in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, such as the banknote customs. However, the banknote customs are located on the waterway, which is basically concentrated in one or two water systems, and there are only a few in the country.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which connects the north-south water system, has become the busiest traffic artery. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, seven of the eight banknote customs were set up along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the banknote customs belonged to the household department, and the purpose of the fee was "to pay for military rewards" according to the official saying. Moreover, it is charged for each section, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal is about 1,700 kilometers in total, and the whole journey is about 3.48 taels of silver.

However, the main toll objects of these toll booths are the merchant ships that come and go, that is to say, the merchants are the main toll objects. Of course, the execution must be out of shape, as long as you bring some luggage, you can also say that you have shipped the goods. As a result, many people are thinking of ways to evade fees, and because of this, in the Ming generation, the supervision of banknotes in various places has always been a big fat shortage.

And the reason why Gong Chengqi is familiar with it is because he also fantasized that one day he can enter the banknote pass, after all, in the Qing Dynasty, this banknote pass has always been presided over by the slaves of the Internal Affairs Bureau, and although he is said to be the slave of the prince, he is also royal and a slave of the Internal Affairs Bureau, so he has that opportunity, but how can such a fat difference get his turn?

At this time, through the observation of Shouchun City, Gong Chengqi suddenly found that compared to Jiangbei, it seemed that the taxes of the Great Qing Kingdom were too light.

"The taxes collected are too light!"

When Gong Chengqi was talking to himself, his face looked a little excited, as if he saw some hope, and he even muttered to himself.

"As long as this matter is done, when the time comes, the Great Qing Kingdom will no longer need to worry about the use of money!"

After figuring out the joints, he even wanted to put on his wings and fly to Huangzhou immediately, and then implement his idea in that place in Huangzhou.

"We must rush to Huangzhou as soon as possible, and when this official arrives in Huangzhou, within a few months, he will definitely be able to solve the predicament of the imperial court today......"

When Gong Chengqi was talking to himself like this, he didn't know that in Qinghe County, hundreds of miles away, Luo Lun, as the representative of Zhang Huangyan, a young man who was only in his twenties, was sitting in Zhu Mingzhong's study, looking at this Jiangbei Jingluo, who was more than a year younger than him, and all that was left of the club in his heart was admiration, in the past period of time, he had been inspecting various places in Jiangbei, not because Zhu Mingzhong was unwilling to see him, but because he wanted to know about Jiangbei.

With the deepening of his understanding of Jiangbei, Luo Lun naturally admired the person in front of him even more, I am afraid that apart from him, no one else can make Jiangbei look completely new in such a short period of time. Even, he also managed to make the best of the people's strength in Jiangbei - the smooth promotion of the "A Soldier System" enabled him to successfully organize and train an army of nearly 200,000 people, and most of them are "compulsory soldiers" who do not need to pay military salaries and only need to pay food.

In order to solve the problem of insufficient military salaries, Zhang Huangyan even effectively imitated Jiangbei's idea - to set up a military pay bureau and issue silver yuan coupons, and Luo Lun also inspected the military pay bureau that had been easily exempted from being "Jianghuai Bank" when he came to Jiangbei this time. Of course, in addition, there are many places in Jiangbei that are worth learning from and emulating in Jiangxi.

"After a few days, I saw in Huaibei that there are many Guantun, and the people who have been displaced to Jiangbei from the north and other places can cultivate the land in the Guantun, and each household in this Guantun is 60 acres, and a cow is given......

Luo Lun's words were full of compliments, the Mintun he was referring to was the Mintun policy implemented by Jiangbei after prohibiting private people from reclaiming land at will and incorporating wasteland as official property, compared to who reclaimed the land, the fields reclaimed by the people belonged to the official property, they just rented the official land, although it hit the enthusiasm of the displaced people to reclaim in Jiangbei, but it ensured the maximization of the government's income - compared with the land levy collected by the government, Jiangbei collected the rent of the tuntian field is undoubtedly higher, and even reached forty percent of the land, and so on, the interests of the government are naturally guaranteed, and in this special form at the moment, this is undoubtedly more suitable for the Ming Dynasty.

In Luo Lun's compliment, Zhu Mingzhong shook his head and said.

"Mintun will eventually be abolished, after all, the reason why those wastelands are recovered is not to hand them over to the people for reclamation!"