Turning over his hand and rubbing his old waist, which was a little painful, the old flower head of the Erdaokouzi Post Station stood up lazily, raised his hand and took off the Huishang Recognition Flag hanging in front of the post station, and folded it carefully.

Since the time of the Great Qing Dynasty, Lao Huatou has been the guy of the Erdaokouzi Post Station on this camel road, and after 30 years of hard work, he finally got to the position of the post station manager step by step. If you have a little work for two years, it's time to go home with a penny of shares from the business

It is not only the Hui merchants who have worked for a lifetime for the old flower head, but also the Zhejiang merchants and Jin merchants on the camel road outside the mouth have also established a lot of post stations, which are specially used for those merchants who pass the message to change horses and pass on the message, and they also have to take into account the camel teams and horses of the merchants to go back and forth to rest and sleep.

The larger post station is almost next to a market town, and there can be more than a dozen rows of logs in the post station to build a house, and a slip of the chase shop can lie down side by side twenty or thirty people. In ordinary times, many imperial court officials went out of Beijing to take up their posts and returned to Beijing to report on their work, and they were not willing to go to the post houses run by the Yamen Er Er in general manners, but went to these post stations run by big merchants to rest and sleep.

Sometimes I bump into those officials who pay attention to pomp and circumstance, and the little 500 people and families around them are crowded and noisy, but the people in charge of the post station can also settle down with the kung fu of raising their hands. This is not delayed, the big room for those servants, family members to prepare stuttering food, with a small kitchen can be to live in the elegant room of the official family to send a few plates of seasonal vegetables, fresh game.

If you are lucky, the official master who lives in the post station is happy to wait, and opens his mouth to exit the word "reward", even if he asks the steward around the official master to fold seven or six (Note 1) to give down the reward, the post station steward can have a small two taels of silver in his hand!

A smaller post house can have three or two rows of logs and a house, and a lot of people can settle down a hundred and ten people. I bumped into the camel teams and horse gangs in various businesses and came to the post station to rest and sleep. Regardless of whether they are the men in the camel caravan or the leader of the horse gang, they all have a bowl of hot lamb bone soup on the big stove, and then grab a few hard-noodle cakes and eat them to their heart's content.

But regardless of the size of the post station, no post station is indispensable to build a spacious horse shed, let alone raise a few good feet to prepare for the call of the post guards. Catch up with the military disaster and robbery, and the business situation is urgent. The messenger nationality with the name of each shop on the back and the flag of the messenger rode a running horse foaming at the mouth and crashed into the front of the post station, and the post station pipe, which had been listening to the ringing bell under the horse's neck, had to serve a full liter of hot Shaoxing old rice wine with eggs and bean noodles in advance, and held it high to the mouth of the messenger man who was already tired and exhausted, and fed the guy to drink the Shaoxing old rice wine in large gulps.

Taking advantage of the stall where the messenger raised his neck and opened his mouth to drink the old rice wine, the horseman who raised horses in the post station immediately had to pick out a horse from the horse shed that had also been fed bean noodles and eggs mixed with old rice wine, and the saddle and stirrup were brought to the messenger guy's side. Several people supported the messenger who had drunk a liter of old rice wine, and stepped on the horse again to spur the horse away, so that they could free up their hands to serve the horse that was already foaming at the mouth. If you can recuperate and recuperate, you will naturally be careful to greet you, and those who have already run so badly that they have to be sent to the soup pot.

In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, there were many military disasters and robberies, and the world was in turmoil, and the situation was not quiet, and a dozen or so good horses raised in a post station had to run clean within half a month. Seeing the messengers from all walks of life rushing into the post station with 100,000 urgent news. The steward in the post station looked at the horses in the stable, and the horses that ran with injured hooves and collapsed were in a hurry, but there was no rut at all, so they could only pick a big person in the barn and find a choice among the green battalion soldiers, and they would just look for a horse that could still run and let the messenger barely get on the road.

During the Republic of China, although it was said that the rivers and mountains changed color and the wind was thunderous, and things were not for everyone, most of these post stations established by Jin merchants, Hui merchants, and Zhejiang merchants on the camel road outside the mouth were retained - regardless of which emperor was sitting on the dragon chair, didn't the common people still have to eat in this world? Since it's to eat. Then how can there be less of these people who buy and sell people in the world?!

Seeing that the old flower head had already packed up the Hui merchant flag, the young man in the post station immediately came to the old flower head's side. While taking the old flower head just folded the recognition flag with both hands, he whispered to the old flower head: "Steward, it is estimated that no one will come to rest today, should we clean up early, and you should go to rest earlier?" Although it is already past the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, it is still very cold and evil. Your waist"

Nodding slightly, the old flower head turned around and walked towards the gate of the post station, but he shook his head and sighed in a low voice: "In the end, when I was old, I was young, and the horse gang of the little one thousand people went to the post station to rest and sleep, and I was so busy that I was tossing and tossing with my heels all night." The next morning, the spirit of the old steward could still be followed out to buy grain for thirty miles."

It seems that he has heard too much of Lao Huatou's chattering narration, and the little guy who has held the flag of the Hui merchant in both hands is very absent-minded and listens to Lao Huatou's words, but his mouth has not forgotten to follow Lao Huatou's words and flattery perfunctorily: "In charge, you can really say that you are old!" Hui merchants are resting in the twenty-two post stations outside the mouth, which post station manager mentions that you spend the stewardship, don't you have to pick a thumbs up and praise - the heart is as careful as a hair, calm as a mountain? If this is according to me, this is the current year is not good, and the Hui merchants, Jin merchants, and Zhejiang merchants are almost unable to save up a large caravan of thousands of people. Otherwise, your old hand raising will be able to make us guys in the business see you again."

As soon as the flattery was halfway through, the old flower head who walked two steps in front of the young man paused suddenly, listened to the almost inaudible little sound in the wind with his ears sideways, and said with a slight frown: "This movement is like the ringing of a horse bell??" ”

Stunned, he stopped talking, and the young man holding the Huishang flag in both hands also listened attentively for a moment, and then smiled at the old flower head: "In charge, are you afraid that you have heard something?" After the opening of the fifth day, the name of the merchant with the flag of our Hui merchant passed on the second day of the first month of the tenth month, and thirty camels sold tea. Counting the footsteps, I'm afraid I haven't reached the ground yet? The goods of our business can't reach the territory, I'm afraid that no one dares to open the market, where can there be any value to make the messenger hurriedly send the news back? ”

Stopped very stubbornly, the old flower head pricked up his ears and listened carefully to the faint sound of the horse bell in the wind, and said very firmly: "It can't be wrong, it's the movement of the horse bell!" It's just that the Zhejiang merchants, Hui merchants, and Jin merchants on the foreign trade road have different horse bells hanging on their feet! Zhejiang's commercial horse bells are seven copper, two tin and one silver, and the horse bells can be fluttered out for more than ten miles with the wind. The horse bell of Jin commercial is six copper, three lead and one silver, although the horse bell can only be transmitted out for three or five miles, it can be won in calmness, so that people can feel solid when they hear it. However, the horse bell of our Hui commercial is five copper, two iron and three silver."

Seeing that the old flower head was talking farther and farther, the young man holding the flag of the Hui merchant hurriedly answered the conversation and turned his head to toute: "I said that I am in charge, then the horse bell you heard today is not the foot strength of our Hui merchant?" ”

Slowly shaking his head, Lao Huatou raised his head and pointed to the end of the road where there was already a clear horse bell, and said with a frown: "Listening to the movement, although the horse bell is urgent, the movement is quite heavy, it should be the horse bell hanging by the foot force of the Jin Shang messenger!" But what is the power of the messenger raised by this Jin merchant running towards us? ”

With a sigh of relief, the little guy holding the flag of the Hui merchant in both hands suddenly lost his spirit, and lazily smiled at the old flower head with a puzzled look: "Hey, if you are not a character in our Hui merchant brand, it's a big deal, let's help prepare some food and drink for the guy who sent the message, just leave a piece of incense." I'll just take care of this, so why don't you hurry up and take a break? ”

Still shaking his head stubbornly, the old flower head reached out and knocked lightly on the head of the little guy who was stammering with him, and whispered in a somewhat complaining tone: "I think about a light and perfunctory thing in my brain, but when can I learn to have work in my eyes and something in my heart?" Although it is said that Hui merchants, Jin merchants, and Zhejiang merchants still have an incense friendship with each other, but there is no father and son on the trading field, you can't remember it at all? Ma Yuer, the old rice wine is mixed well, the eggs and bean noodles are hot, and the most aged jar is Shaoxing Yellow! If there is any food in the kitchen that can see people, it is also carefully cleaned up and prepared! ”

The little guy who rolled his eyes and held the flag of the Hui merchant in both hands suddenly seemed to understand something, and whispered in the ear of the old flower head: "Steward, do you mean to leave this messenger who crashed into the door and take a chance to ask for news?" ”

Slightly tilting a glance at the little guy standing next to him, the old flower head looked up at the horse at the end of the road in the distance, who had already lost his body, and nodded lightly: "If there is no hurry to get to the fire room, how can the messenger of the Jin merchants bump into our Hui Shang's post station?" How many horses are there in the stable? ”

Without thinking, the young man immediately responded: "Last year, during the winter, I packed up seven horses, and asked the camel team that passed by on the twelfth day of the first month to replace five horses, and there are still two horses left that can be on the road immediately!" ”

"Take those two horses out and prepare them, I can't say that the trick of turning the eyes will come in handy! Explain it, and you will be a little clever for a while! ”

"Steward, you can rest assured" (to be continued......)

PS: Note 1: (The so-called fold seven and six folds usually refer to the fact that when the Manchu nobles or officials rewarded others in the late Qing Dynasty, most of the actual rewards issued were six or seven folds off the amount of the official promised regular rewards, and the rest was divided among the officials, nobles' entourage, and stewards.) Before the fall of the Qing Dynasty, there was even a reward ratio of two and one. Therefore, there used to be a saying in Sijiu City: The steward's hand hits the master's mouth -- it means that the steward in the government unscrupulously withholds the reward)