Seeing that everyone was busy, Zhang Anshi had nothing to do, but he put away his thoughts, stayed quietly in his duty room, and drafted a charter.

A sound postal system can be described as a magic weapon.

In fact, the most valuable thing in this world is always the message.

In an agricultural era, people received information very slowly, and they were separated from each other in villages and estates, large and small, and the vast majority of people were confused, and on the surface there seemed to be a beautiful pastoral scene of sunrise and sunset.

But in fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the walking dead.

In fact, social progress often begins with the explosion of information.

Every explosion of information has brought to the world a driving force that is by no means comparable to that of some iron-smelting workshops or several railways, although workshops and ironware are also the foundation of this explosion of information.

For once people can get information cheaply, it means that even people from the ends of the earth can get information from distant friends, or from borrowed newspapers, or from the mouths of other people who read them.

Thus, the message, which had been slowly circulating only in a small number of scholars, began to flow among a hundredfold and a thousandfold number of people.

What a terrible thing this is, in essence, this message is equivalent to planting a seed in the hearts of thousands of people.

The people of the world will no longer just think about whether they should repair their clothes when they go there tomorrow to forage for food.

Why don't the men take Wu Hook and collect Guanshan Fifty Prefectures. Such poetry, or such aspirations, is no longer the exclusive property of the scholarly class.

People will unconsciously breed one after another, how wonderful it would be if one day I could go to sea.

Or, if you really want to go to the capital to see and see, see the market of Qixia, see the Forbidden City from afar, or go to Qixia Temple to see the pagoda.

Of course, the dreams or aspirations implanted by this implant will eventually be extinguished, after all, the glimmer and flame emitted by a small candle cannot last in the wilderness.

But once you have these thoughts, it is the beginning of change for millions of people.

Zhang Anshi wants to expand the printing workshop of Di Bao, and the sales volume can no longer be confined to 100,000 copies, but one million copies.

The printing industry, which intends to accelerate faster, continues to reduce costs by taking advantage of the advantages of scale.

In addition, he also wanted to promote charcoal, the cost of using the brush is too high, and the paper required is also amazing, and it can be used by the scholar class, so it can naturally be swayed freely, but ordinary people really can't accept such a cost.

The small charcoal pen can save paper and make it more convenient.

Of course, Zhang Anshi also plans to ask someone to specially formulate a set of cheap enlightenment books, print some simple common words in the form of pictures, and then send them to the newsstand for sale.

In this era, even the most ordinary people have a huge thirst for knowledge.

The cost of receiving knowledge is too high, far beyond the ability of ordinary people to accept it.

Because of this, how to improve the literacy rate in the simplest way, there are also newspaper kiosks in the world, and there are many articles to be written.

The Ming Dynasty has countless people, thousands of people, in Zhu Di's words, called thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, and hundreds of millions of people.

But no matter how many people can't read and write, if they can't have a skill, the number of this population is actually just a number.

Only by turning them into real people can we draw strength.

Time passed silently, and soon, more than a month passed.

During this period, Zhang Anshi lived a very fulfilling life, he buried his head in his duty room every day to write, and occasionally sent a pile of manuscripts to the Post Office, and the Post Office, according to the idea of His Royal Highness King Song, responded.

Some of them really can't be done, so it simply explains the difficulties.

Some can be done, and they are naturally happy to express their position.

Others, for a moment, were greatly inspired and even more eager.

Every time Zhang Anshi asked someone to send a manuscript, Hu Mu treated it with extreme care, first asking people to transcribe and transcribe dozens of copies and distribute it, while he himself carefully collected the original manuscript.

Slowly, his own scribe discovered the strangeness and couldn't help but be curious: "Ambassador...... Is the original still sealed? ”

Hu Mu only nodded.

The scribe couldn't help but say, "The students don't know the ambassador...... What's the point. ”

Hu Mu couldn't help laughing and said, "Didn't you read these things yourself?" How many of these thoughts can I think of? Such a whimsical idea is really amazing and incredible. I am a scholar, I have read Confucius and Mencius since I was a child, and I have been reading for more than 20 years, but I also know one thing, if such a wonderful idea, if it can still be realized, then thousands of years later, this is a saint-like figure, you think about it carefully, Confucius and Mencius have left a manuscript? ”

When the scribe listened, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded, and shook his head busily.

Hu Mu continued: "That's because, when they were alive, they were not saints, and when Sage Confucius was here, although he had 3,000 disciples and traveled around the world, he almost didn't encounter courtesy, and he almost ended up depressed. Today is different, today is ...... I have kept all these manuscripts for a proper collection, so that one day they will be known to others for eternity. ”

Of course, this is nothing more than gossip.

And at this time, Pingtan Station.

When Xia Xuan arrived in Pingtan after many days of trekking through mountains and rivers, he found that this was just a post station in Fuqing County, under Fuzhou Prefecture.

Fuqing County is along the coast, and it is mountainous, therefore, there are three post stations in the county, in addition to the county seat, there is also a mountainous township, which is this Pingtan Station.

Xia Xuan didn't delay, when he arrived here, he immediately came to the post station, there were a total of nine people in the post station, Yi Cheng was born as a student of the arithmetic school, and there was a janitor and a person in charge of the post station's food affairs, he was an old post man, who was left behind in the post station.

In addition, the remaining seven people are mostly from Tiannan and Haibei.

At the bottom of Pingtan Station, there are two townships, and three people are responsible for one township, so among these three people, there is a chief official, and another official is responsible for the newspaper kiosk.

Of course, at this time, the work of the newsstand was relatively leisurely, and all the books and newspapers were transported by someone from the county, who only needed to guard the newsstand.

But it is not in vain to do such a trivial thing, because this person is also responsible for some clerical and accounting work. To put it bluntly, people make the best use of it anyway, and do a little bit of everything.

As for the post man, in addition to supervising the work of the post guards, he also has to be responsible for the horse affairs in the station, and of course, the old post man and the scribe of the newsstand will also share some of it.

However, although there are few people, I have heard that some personnel will be expanded in the future.

Because Pingtan Station is about to repair and build some buildings, what needs to be repaired is the guest room, which was originally responsible for transporting officials and dependents, but now it is going to be changed.

It doesn't matter if you are an official or a scholar who is rushing to take the exam, you have to give money for accommodation when you come, and the past business travelers who did not accept hospitality in the past are now willing to accept it, and you can give accommodation and food money.

This post is very friendly and talkative, and it may be that the post station has not accepted newcomers for a long time, so as soon as he came, he began to talk about Xia Xuan's pie: "The Pingtan Hotel, after the repair, will be opened, the business will not be bad, it is not a secret, this is also the main business of our post department, you don't underestimate this, in the past, this post station accommodation, is for nothing to the official family and scholars, all the provisions, are the post station is responsible, but now to collect money...... It's different. ”

Xia Xuan couldn't help but say: "But I see that there are also many inns in the county. ”

"It's different." Yi Cheng said: "In the future, the main entertainment here is business travel, think about it, who are the people in the guest house, they are all foreigners!" This foreigner to the place, life is not familiar, and this world, there will be a place that is not peaceful, people to a foreign land, it is inevitable to feel uneasy, other inns, may not dare to live, but our post hotel is different, we are subordinate to the postal department, if the people all over the world are evil, we will not be evil! And all the hotels of the Post Division, whether it is Pingtan or Beiping, are clearly marked with prices, no more than a penny, no less than a penny, you say...... Will it not be lively in the future? ”

Xia Xuan has also traveled, but he travels to and from some big cities, and it doesn't matter which inn he lives in.

But now that I think about Yi Cheng's words, I think of this way, there are mostly barren mountains and mountains, and it's really like this.

He is a young man, and he has a big heart, but most of those business travelers carry gold and silver, or carry goods, so they will naturally be extremely cautious.

This Yicheng looked at Xia Xuan's expression and knew that his words had been agreed. He smiled, put his hands behind his back and said: "You do a good job, wait for the future, this hotel is repaired, this hotel will be handed over to you to be responsible, then the post department will recruit a few more people, and I will teach a few people to give you a hand." ”

As soon as he heard this, he rushed straight in and shouted angrily: "Liu Yicheng, you didn't say that at the beginning, you said that I did it well, so you taught me to take care of it." ”

Yi Cheng suddenly, his face was blue and red, so he was not embarrassed, so he said perfunctorily: "Ahem...... Let the newcomer Xiao Xia familiarize himself with the business first, now there is a shortage of manpower in Tannan, Deng Da, you are the chief official in charge of Tan Nan, you will take him to familiarize yourself with tomorrow. ”

…………

The next day, Xia Xuan set off.

He followed the chief official Deng Da, and learned that Deng Da was also from Jiangxi, so he couldn't help but get close.

However, Xia Xuan regretted it a little, because he probably knew that what he had to do was just errands.

After combing out the letterhead and some parcels in the morning, I camelped them on mules and horses, and roughly planned the route to deliver the letters and parcels, and then set off.

"Chief Deng, have you ever read a book?"

"Yes."

"I don't know anything." Xia Xuan couldn't help but be curious: "Since Chief Deng is a scholar, how did he assign Chief Deng to be responsible for running errands, isn't Chief Deng offended the poster?" ”

Deng Da smiled, while leading the horse, at this time the two went to a stream, in this kind of place, not everywhere there are roads, Deng Da wanted to lead the mule and horse, wading across the stream, the mule and horse refused, Deng Da slapped it a few times, the mule and horse were honest, screamed, obediently and leisurely groundwater.

After waiting for the stream, Deng Dacai smiled and said: "We post guards, all of us are so tall, and we recruit people who can write and calculate, do you really think that to send this letter, the only way to send this letter is to run errands?" ”

Xia Xuan frowned and shook his head, in fact, he really regretted it.

It's not that he regrets being rash, he doesn't know what fear is when he is young.

The only thing I regret is ...... You shouldn't be reckless and come to such a remote place to mess around.

After walking for a while, Deng Da actually took out a map, carefully distinguishing the location of the map, and there were many marks densely made in the map, and there were even various numbers.

After taking a closer look, he said, "Go north, go to Qianhe Village first." ”

Under the scorching sun, the two walked briskly and finally arrived at Qianhe Village.

When I saw a post man coming, many people in the village were happy.

Most of them were in rags, but many people gathered, some of them were outside, and they couldn't help but have hope, and there was no correspondence with anyone, maybe in this small village, it was really lackluster, even if a few outsiders came, people couldn't help but come and see the excitement.

Immediately, Dunda sent two letters.

But those who received the faith rejoiced, but the crowd did not disperse.

But everyone is still gathering, as for Deng Da, he seems to be very familiar with them, greeting each other, and can directly name the names of many people.

It was an old woman who opened the letter first, and the old woman trembled slightly and sent the letter to Deng Da.

Deng Da took the letter casually and began to read it to the old woman: "Mother Jin An, son is outside, fine, Fuzhou city ......"

After reading it, the people still refused to disperse, and seemed to start talking about the people in Fuzhou City, and for a while, there was a lot of chaos.

After reading another letter, Deng Da got up and said, "It's not too early, I will go to Australia later." By the way, in this village, is there any sign of our zip code? It is necessary to pay close attention, and if you do not register, it will be inconvenient to send letters in the future. If anyone orders the newspaper, let it know. ”

An old man laughed: "It's all hanging, it's all hanging, although our place is remote, and there are few young people outside, but it's hanging, isn't it one more thought?" Who knows if we'll have a distant relative out there. ”

Everyone laughed heartily.

There is also a humanitarian: "My daughter married to Putian County, but I don't know, she doesn't know if there is a post station, and I don't know if she is willing to repair a letter, hey, I haven't come home for two years to save my relatives......"

As he spoke, everyone sighed again.

Deng Da said: "Don't worry, there is also a post station in Putian County, maybe it is...... She hadn't figured out what to write yet. ”

The old woman pulled Deng Da and said, "Mr. Deng, I need to trouble you to reply a letter to Wu'er...... I bought the stamps early ......"

Deng Da rolled up his sleeves, took out charcoal and paper from the mail bag, and then said, "You say, I write ......."

Ultimately...... It was under the support of many people that Deng Da and Xia Xuan started again.

Xia Xuan has been watching silently since he came to this village, and when he left, he lowered his head and thought thoughtfully.

But he couldn't help but have many questions, so he asked Deng Da: "Sir, just to send these two letters......

Deng Da seemed to understand what he meant at once, and said with a smile: "Don't you know, in the past, in this village, there was not a single letter for several years, but now, there are two ...... a day."

Xia Xuan's thinking didn't turn for a while, so he said in a daze: "What does the chief mean ......?"

At this time, Deng Da's smile on his face was very gentle, although his face was red from the scorching sun that came out early, but he couldn't see a trace of impatience.

He said: "There was no before, and it may not be there in the future, everyone knows its convenience, and naturally, there is." ”

He looked at Xia Xuan's face that he felt was novel and amazed, and said, "Do you know that the village in front of you is a fishing village, huh...... It's the Tan people, do the Tan people know? ”

Xia Xuan shook her head blankly.

Deng Da continued to smile: "Actually, it is often referred to as a pariah. Almost all of them live on ships, and even the government doesn't care about them on weekdays. Even if they are on the shore and have a dispute with someone, the government is almost partial to the other side. ”

Xia Xuan frowned and said, "Fish for a lifetime? ”

"Exactly." Deng Dadao: "In other villages, even if there is no talent now, there will always be a few scholars in the past hundred years." But in that place, for thousands of years, there has not been a single scholar. But do you know...... It was in this place that someone ordered the newspaper. ”

Xia Xuan exclaimed, "Ah...... Are they literate? ”

Deng Dadao: "For them, literacy is different from us who are readers, we need to have a teacher, and we have to have pen, ink, paper, and inkstone to be literate." But some of them compared the branches on the beach, and when they had doubts, they caught passers-by to ask for advice, and they could barely recognize a few words, understand a few common words, and then read the Di newspaper, read it vaguely, and slowly understood everything. ”

Xia Xuan was even more surprised, and couldn't help but say: "The passer-by is also literate? ”

Deng Da almost rolled his eyes at him, and said angrily: "This passer-by is actually me." ”

Xia Xuan: "......"

walked a little further, in fact, it was only three poles a day, but Xia Xuan was about to fall apart. He was struggling, and his legs and feet began to limp a little.

Dunda simply let him sit on the mule horse.

He muttered: "When I first came here, I was actually the same as you, but after doing such things for some time, I don't feel hard. However, this place is familiar with people, and every time I go to various villages, I always see people who are happy, and I can't help but feel satisfied. When I meet some people, I am even more amazed that I am willing to come to ask for advice. ”

After a pause, he glanced at Xia Xuan, who was listening to him carefully, and said with a little emotion: "I used to think that the people were stupid because they refused to read, but now I think the other way around, it is because they can't read, so they are dull." You'll learn later. ”

(End of chapter)