When Shen Laoying returned home depressed, Li Xiang had just come out of the back house of the Zhizhou Yamen, met with Fang Weiliang and the guards, and went to the post house to rest.

The post house system of the Great Zhou Dynasty was set by Taizu Chai Rong and many courtiers who were practical, illustrated, and knowledgeable. Two hundred years have passed, and this system has had many small problems, and there are several times when it does not work, but it is still the most scientific, best and most reliable post system in this era, and there is no one.

The postal system of the previous dynasty consumed a lot of people's labor. In view of this, the important ministers who struggled out of the troubled times and the scholars who stood at the top of the pyramid used their brains to hand over the work of transmitting official documents and military emergencies to a large number of van troops.

After the Great Zhou Dynasty defeated the Sichuan regime and the Jiangnan regime, it began to sort out the post stations across the country. In the setting of the post station, the knowledgeable scholars pay attention to local conditions.

Ganliang and Guanzhong were constantly facing the invasion of Tibet, Uighurs, and Western Xia, and on the main military routes, there were post stations every ten to twenty miles, for horseback postmen to change horses, rest, or directly change people.

Hedong Road and Jingdong Road, especially in the north, have a variety of post stations. There is a post station located at the road pass, the structure is solid, and hundreds of troops are stationed in it, which can resist the attack of the Liao State step by step. There are post stations close to the big city, which can serve as an early warning. The large post station near the pass is itself a small fortress, which can form a horn with the pass fortress of the Great Zhou.

Where the waterway is accessible, the form of "water delivery" comes into being. There are fast boats and rafts in the Yellow River, ever-improving galleys in the Yangtze River, and wooden steamers in the Han and Huai rivers with flexible steering.

Sichuan Road, Jinghu South Road, Jiangnan West Road, Lingnan Road, as well as several Fanbu and Guanzhou in the southwest of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the mountains are steep and difficult to walk. The government garrisons in these places could only rely on the local mountain people to pass on some news, orders, and urgent letters over the mountains and mountains, commonly known as "mountaineering delivery" or "crossing the mountain delivery".

The hinterland of the Great Zhou is generally peaceful. According to the regulations of the court, the Great Zhou government set up a post station every 20 to 30 miles and a post shop about 10 miles in places where there were no soldiers.

Prosperity came unexpectedly. Many post station delivery shops of the Xiangjun and village soldiers began to receive some urgent letters and objects from the people to earn some extra money. The Great Zhou Dynasty also inevitably suffered from problems such as the collapse of the army and the corruption of officials, which were more serious in some aspects. Many of the Xiangjun and township soldiers who acted as "paving soldiers" and "delivery men", that is, the guys called "post pawns" by the people, couldn't support their families at all with the money they deducted seven or eight deductions, so they naturally had to find a way to survive.

Compared with the previous dynasties, the most rare thing about the Great Zhou is that the scholars at the top are more flexible, and they are more skilled in sewing and mending and maintaining the stability of people's livelihood. Seeing that there were more and more fugitive soldiers, the rulers of the Great Zhou Dynasty began to act.

Post House. "Post" and "delivery" were separated from the whole system, and both officials and gentry could use the post shop to transmit messages as long as they paid money. Of course, the farther away you are, the more likely you are to lose your mail. Want compensation? Normally, there is no play.

The post houses that can provide accommodation and meals have also been reformed to a certain extent. In the past, only high-ranking officials above the fifth rank could use the post station with the seal of the Ministry of War and the post coupons issued by the Privy Council. With the passage of time, the problems of private giving and receiving, collecting wool from the Great Zhou, and embezzling money and grain became more and more prominent, and the court simply let go of the right to use some post stations, and low-level officials and gentry merchants could use the post stations as long as they had post tickets in their hands, and high-ranking officials and senior generals were still preferred.

The post guards, shop soldiers and couriers who shed blood and sweat for the Great Zhou Express and post stations, some of them live well on extra money and welfare, and some are worried that they will starve to death. There are always people who are unwilling to live as well as dogs, and these people will gather as thieves and become elusive green forest strongmen. After Fang La's army, there were many gangs with a past of post soldiers who took refuge and contributed a lot of information to Fang La's army's plan.

"It's dry, watch out for the candles."

Spring, summer, autumn and winter, all year round, don't expect the husband to say the second word.

Hearing the gong struck by the groom, the barerns and houses in Huzhou City were lit with lanterns one after another, and torches and braziers were also lit on the city wall and in the barracks. Pieces of candles, large or small, scattered or dense, flickered brightly and darkly, and their breathing seemed to be angry, provoking the Milky Way in the sky.

The damp and cold air was carried away by the breeze, and the air was a little clearer.

In the city of Huzhou, the lights separated by the broken walls and ruins were no match for the bright starlight, but they were not convinced, and asked for help from the group of lights lit up by the official army fleet on Taihu Lake. The giant lake city is connected by all kinds of lights, and wants to use this grand scenery on earth to fight against the cold night sky.

A small wind hit, and the momentum disappeared.

Thousands of lanterns, fires, and braziers swayed at the same time, like dozens of disturbed fireflies, which soon dispersed and reunited, and quieted down.

The stars blinked, as if mocking, "Sample, fight with me......"

The two post houses in Huzhou City were used by Shi Baojun. Fang Lajun's evacuation was hasty, without much damage, except for some dirty and messy, the two post houses actually ranked second among the best-preserved buildings in Huzhou City.

Chengxi Post House, Li Xiang's room. Da Niu lit the lamp and guarded the door with two guards.

Fang Weiliang arched his hand, "Han Zhao is really affectionate and has an ancient style. The owner of the village got the name of the leader of the affiliated militia group, so he was not afraid of suffering too much trouble in Jiangnan. ”

Li Xiang pondered for a long time and slowly shook his head, "It's not that simple. ”

When it comes to the government, the military, and local forces, it's still the officials who are better at it. Now that the officials are busy in Jingzhou day and night, Li Xiang can only rely on himself.

The owner of the village chewed a few dried fruits, swallowed them, and continued: "The Great Zhou has always had the existence of village soldiers and archers and folk clubs. Han Zhao asked me for a sign of the leader of the militia group, it is really convenient to do things, and I am not afraid of taboos with a few hundred Zhuang Ding. ”

"But...... You two weren't there. At that time, when Han Zhao's envoy said that I should join the army in the war, two commanders looked at me very wrongly. I didn't think much about it at the time, but now the owner of the village thinks about it carefully, this is because someone is afraid that General Han will read in my father-in-law's face and give me the battle merits. ”

"Huzhou can't stay. Favors are limited, and if you stay by Han Zhao's side, Han Zhao's envoy will of course care more about the safety of his father-in-law. However, the favor is exhausted, and some commanders and battalion commanders guard against the owner of the village. The owner of the village stayed here, and for his father-in-law, he really didn't know whether it was good or bad. ”

Ding Shihang, who was witty and flexible but acted out-of-the-box, was pointed out by Li Xiang all the way, and he had already begun to restrain his temperament, and he would not open his mouth to come. A young man like him in the village was very lacking in understanding the rules of Da Zhou's behavior, and after thinking for a long time, he didn't know where the focus of the master's speech was, so he had to bow his head and remain silent.

Fang Weiliang pondered the issue of Li Xiang's military exploits: the owner of the village said it very clearly, and some people were worried that the "Zhuang Ding" of Mingyue Village would take the credit. But the owner of the village only brought more than 200 people, under what circumstances can he share the credit of those people? Wait, there are too many fleets on Taihu Lake, is it ......

Waited for more than a dozen breaths. Fang Weiliang saw that the protégé of the owner of the village beside him had no intention of answering, so he arched his hand and asked: "Is the owner of the village suspicious, there will be a large number of officials and troops rushing to Jiangnan to launch a fatal blow against the Yongle puppet dynasty?" ”

Li Xiang spread his hands, "Except for the collapse of the Yongle Dynasty, the owner of the village can't think of any other possibility, so that the owner of the village can take hundreds of people to fish in troubled waters and share some of the military exploits." You have also seen those fleets, there are all kinds of ships, even sea ships have been sent, what does it mean? Fang La became the emperor at this juncture, eroding the south of the Yangtze River and touching the reverse scales of the dynasty. ”

It can be guessed that the official army will soon move south, not because Li Xiang has a deep knowledge in the way of battle formation, but because there are many examples of joint transportation of troops by land and water in the original time and space. The hundreds of empty ships rocking on the Taihu Lake have different purposes, except for cooperating with the two-legged army to counterattack the Yongle puppet dynasty, what other use can it be?

Ding Shihang's eyes lit up, "Owner, can't you really get a piece of the exploits?" ”

Fang Weiliang admired the owner's overall situation very much, and asked for advice, "What does the owner mean?" ”

"Let's go to Anji." Obviously, after thinking about it for a long time, Li Xiang used tea to draw the locations of Huzhou City, Anji County and Deqing County on the table, "Anji is surrounded by mountains, only the north has a big road and a river leading to the outside world, and to the east through a small road, you can reach Deqing County." We are stationed in Anji in the name of the militia group, in addition to assisting my father-in-law nearby, there are three benefits. ”

"First. Anji is almost isolated from the battlefield, and when he goes there, the generals here in Huzhou will never suspect that the owner of the village will still take away their military exploits, right? It matters to save your father-in-law, you don't want to do anything about your military exploits, and the owner of the village has no intention of being an official, so what can you do with it? If you can not offend anyone, you must not offend. ”

"Second. It is reported that many people in the south of the Yangtze River were unable to evade the Fang La army and fled to Anji through the mountains and streams. Since there is a sign of the leader of the militia group, don't be a pity, let's recruit some good players there. ”

"Third. Anji leads to Guangde in the northwest and Huzhou in the northeast, relying on the canals and waterways in the south of the Yangtze River, we can easily buy and sell. The public middle school is tight, the father-in-law wants to save it, and the business has to be done! ”

After writing a few secret letters, they were carefully sealed with wax and oil, and locked in the desk. Standing up and moving his arms a few times, Han Shizhong sighed a few words that it was not easy to write, and then ordered the young general surnamed Han that Li Xiang had seen during the day to invite Mr. Zi'an.

Han Shizhong first asked Mr. Zi'an what troubles he had recently, and after listening to it, he said disdainfully: "Mr. Hard." Dealing with scholars, gentlemen, shopkeepers and the like all day long, this trick looks tiring. ”

"Those people don't look at what time it is. The war was raging, and they still had the face to ask Ben to divide their troops so that they could recapture their mulberry gardens, mansions, and workshops, and they also bought land on a large scale......"

Mr. Zi'an's body is weak, and he is most afraid of moisture, and his robe is wrapped very thickly. This old man who offended too many people when he was young said: Where is there only the gentry enclosing the land, those generals and officers of the Chinese army battalion have been pulled into the water and are taking the opportunity to save their family business. Otherwise, where would those gentry have the courage to forge documents, occupy land and property, and suppress the small people...... Among them are also a few young people surnamed Han, ahem.

After Han Shizhong finished scolding, he took a few big sips of tea, straightened his beard and said, "In Mr. Xiang's opinion, how about Li Xiang's boy?" ”

Here comes the point.

Mr. Zi'an squinted his eyes and thought carefully, and said slowly: "This young man is witty, not surprised, and well-informed, but he also deserves to be Mr. Qingshi's disciple and Liu Chengdong's son-in-law. Just ......"

"I always feel like he is covered with a veil, and I can't see his roots clearly."