Late October.

On the last day of October, the clouds in the sky had accumulated thicker and thicker, and the black pressure seemed as if the sky was going to fall in the next moment.

In the first post station outside Liaoyun Pass, Zhao Duan and his party hurriedly entered the post station when they saw that the sky was wrong, and did not dare to continue their journey.

After handing over some silver, setting the room, and letting the post guard drive the carriage and others to the backyard to settle it, Zhao Duan and his party sat in the lobby of the post station and watched the increasingly wrong sky outside.

The postman gave them tea and some pastries on the table, and said as he put them down:

"A few of you are really lucky, you arrived at our post station before the snow, otherwise if it is too late, it will be difficult to walk as soon as the snow comes!"

Zhao Duan picked up the tea, and Cao Shuang on the side saw that he was about to stop it, but he secretly raised his hand to stop it, and after taking a sip of it, he asked:

"Your boss opened this inn himself?

Your boss is quite business-minded, and he has opened a post station here, and he can make a lot of money coming and going. ”

When the postman heard this, he immediately laughed, put the rag that wiped the table on his shoulder, and then said with a smile:

"A few people laughed, don't look at our post station like an inn, but we are a public department.

Although our post chief has no grade and is not a big official, he is also a member of Yunzhou County, a proper public man, not a businessman! ”

"Oh? Are you a public family? ”

His words immediately aroused the interest of Zhao Duan and his party, and Qi Qi looked at him.

The postman seemed to be very proud, nodded heavily, and said while refilling the cups of the four of them:

"That's not it, all the post stations along our way were built by Yunzhou County, although we are now self-financing, but we are all public food.

Even if there is not a single guest, we all have a good fortune, which is much better than farming, and the previous show talents in our village may not be as good as me. ”

Zhao Duan keenly noticed the key information in his words and asked, "You just said along the way?" ”

The post guard nodded, and said indifferently: "Yes, along the way, starting from our first post station, to the vicinity of Yunzhou City, there are a total of sixteen post stations, all of which are funded by the Yunzhou County Guard, and you only need to walk along the post station to reach Yunzhou City." ”

"There are sixteen post stations along the way, is each of your post stations as big as yours here?"

Zhao Duan asked.

The postman nodded, "It's all the same size." ”

"Shhh

Zhao Duan couldn't help but gasp, he didn't blame him for being like this.

When he came in just now, he had already taken a cursory look, this post station covers an area of nearly five acres or so, not to mention Ma Peng and other places, just if the accommodation in the post station is full at one time, these three-story wooden buildings can accommodate two or three hundred people.

Not to mention the lobby that is nearly an acre in size.

If such a large post station is changed in Bianjing, it will not be able to take down 10,000 taels of silver.

But the Yunzhou County Shoufu actually built sixteen directly on this road!

This is the cost of 160,000 taels of silver.

This is only the initial investment, after the post station is put into operation, the materials to be consumed every day, the personnel and so on are estimated to be about 100 taels of silver a day.

Judging from the current situation that Zhao Duan has seen, the current flow of people in this post station is not very large, most of them are just some caravans, and half of them are probably dissatisfied.

With such an occupancy rate, this post station is operating at a loss all day.

In other words, these sixteen post stations not only cannot recover their capital, but also post them upside down every year.

This is not much easier than raising an army of about 1,000 people, this Yunzhou county guard actually does this kind of useless work, it is really enough silver!

That's right, it's useless.

In Zhao Duan's opinion, there is no need to build so many post stations like this, it is enough to have two or three along the way, and it is a waste of money to build so much.

He didn't know that for the money spent on building and maintaining these post stations, having such a post station that could quickly circulate materials and information would be more beneficial than disadvantageous for Yunzhou County.

That little bit of silver consumption may be a lot for Zhao Duan, but for Yunzhou County, it is only a drop in the bucket.

"Are you so rich in Yunzhou County? Your post station is operating at a loss, and you will lose at least nearly 1,000 taels of silver every day!

In this regard, the postman was very proud: "Hey, what is this little silver? ”

Just when Zhao Duan wanted to say that you, the post man, probably didn't understand what one thousand taels meant, at this time, a guest at the table next to him smiled and said, "Brother Tai, you are the first time to come to Yunzhou County, right?" ”

Zhao Duan was stunned, but he quickly reacted and arched his hand and replied, "It's indeed the first time I've come." ”

"Then it's no wonder."

The man said: "You don't have to worry about whether there is money for the Yamen of Yunzhou County, I only came to Yunzhou County after the autumn harvest this year, and Yunzhou County has been closed to the public before, even if you get out of the customs, you can't come to Yunzhou City, and no one will come here."

After the autumn harvest this year, I don't know why the ban was suddenly lifted, I thought about coming here to collect some cow and sheep skins and cattle and sheep to sell, as has always been the case.

Who knew that when I arrived in Yunzhou City, hey! I was taken aback!

That's not the Yunzhou City in my impression, and even Bianjing is probably not so prosperous.

Don't tell you the truth, brother, since I started running a business, I have traveled south and north, and I have been to countless big cities, but I was naturally taken aback when I saw Yunzhou City today.

As far as Yunzhou City is so prosperous, I will say that there is absolutely no shortage of money for the Yamen of Yunzhou County!

The consumption of a few thousand taels of silver, for others, is just the soup leaking from the corners of the mouth.

With this post station, people can attract more merchants to Yunzhou City, and the money they will make will be much more than this! ”

The guest was excited, but Zhao Duan and his party were confused.

Yunzhou City is more prosperous than Bianjing?

How is this possible?

This is Yunzhou County, Yunzhou City can be like a normal city, and if you want to be as prosperous as Bianjing, it is impossible to think about it.

But looking at the sworn look of the businessman, Zhao Duan was also a little suspicious.

But when Zhao Duan went to ask what the prosperity method was, the merchant had a mysterious smile on his face, shook his head and said, "Don't say!" You guys, let's see for yourself, you don't necessarily believe what I say, that place is very different from what you imagined now, I had an idea with you at the beginning.

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that it would be Yunzhou City! ”

After speaking, the merchant didn't say anything more, turned his head and continued to eat, so that Zhao Duan couldn't ask them.

At this moment, the snowflakes finally fell outside the post station, and everyone who was originally sitting in the lobby got up and came to the door, looking at the snowflakes outside with great emotion.

Zhao Duan stretched out his hand, caught the falling snow and said with a smile: "The first snow of this year, Ruixue Zhaofeng year, I hope that the climate will be better next year, and the people will be better!" ”

The rest of the people also stretched out their hands, feeling the cold feeling of the first snow falling on their hands this year, and chattered non-stop.

As soon as the snow starts, the temperature begins to plummet.

At this time, in the lobby of the post station, I don't know when the stove was lit, and as soon as the stove was burned, everyone in the hall immediately felt warm.

……

(End of chapter)