In the third year of Yonghui (652 AD), the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

The conference room of Wuzhou Yamen II held a year-end meeting of the boss level. Wu Kangyan, the judicial officer, proposed to accept civil business at the post station, that is, the postal express system. First analyze the objective conditions, clarify the supply and demand sides, and wait for the boss to criticize and suggest.

However, the venue was silent, and the big guys were frowning and pondering. A few minutes later, Cui Yixuan coughed twice, sat upright and said, "Whether the post office express system is established, we only have the right to suggest the decision, and the right to decide in the court. Let's finish the words first, and finally we decide together whether to write to the court."

Wu Kang deeply agreed that if Wuzhou felt it was not feasible, there was no need to write to the court. According to convention, flatter first: "Mr. Cui hits the words and is a true insight. The key to the problem is how to impress the court and how to obtain more support from the court officials? In the final analysis, what benefits can the court get?"

Back to the conference table, open the folder and extract the paper, put the "copper coins" on it. Hang the paper on the nails and said solemnly: "There is no vain in the world. Unless you have to eat a meal, you have to spend money if you want to use express delivery. The core of the postal express system is to make money. The highest level of making money is that I make money for you, and you are grateful to me. Let's talk about how to make money first..."

A piece of paper with "distance" written on it, hung on the nail, "First, charge for distance. If I write a letter and want to send it to my family in Muzhou, the inn will charge five cents; send it to my friends in Hangzhou, charge ten cents; send it to my sister Zhaoyi in Chang'an City, charge fifty cents; set different charging standards according to the distance of the letter."

A piece of paper with "degree" written on the nail, "Second, charge according to the degree. Write a letter from Zhaoyi. If the content is not important, choose the slowest, and charge fifty cents; I have money and want to deliver it quickly, choose one hundred miles to expedite, and charge seventy cents; I am poor and only have money left, choose two hundred miles to expedite, and charge one hundred cents; I am a rich man..."

With a bang, the table was slapped, and Lao Cui scolded him and said, "As a court official, please pay attention to your words and deeds and acts, and you can't speak well? If you dare to talk nonsense, I will take off your hat and go home to raise pigs."

The big guys were gloating and their eyes were joking, and Wu Kang was very embarrassed. The joke "Go home to raise pigs" was used by himself to scold his subordinates. Why did it spread to Lao Cui? He nodded embarrassedly and flirted with the documents, and secretly complained in his heart, "Old fox, you can fool me." I can go home to raise pigs, but Jiu Niang followed me to be a pig woman. If you don't believe me, you won't feel sorry for you.

A piece of paper with "weight" written on it is hung on a nail, "Third, charge according to weight. The station express system not only transmits letters, but also transmits objects. For example, the husband of the two women is a soldier in Chang'an. Woman A went to the temple to ask for peace talismans and express to the husband, and charged fifty cents; Woman B believed that peace talismans were not effective, and the blue bricks on the courtyard wall were able to defend themselves at critical moments. It would be fine, and the charge was 50 cents. As long as the money was in place, your house could be transported..."

The sound of slapping the table again, Wu Kang braked urgently, took another piece of paper and hung it on the nail, which said "Accept?". Cui Yixuan's face turned black when he saw the question mark, and the other big shots were even more joking. The punctuation marks were also the laughing stock of the big shots.

Wu Kang started a class in the judicial yamen and taught the use of punctuation marks. Then he issued a dead order, and the documents must be punctuated. There was no fine once, no more money to get out of the jackpot, and then he went home to raise pigs. The subordinates were miserable at first, but gradually they were happy. The big guys laughed at each other at first, and gradually promoted their yamen secretly.

Lao Cui thought it was a disgrace to a gentleman, so he cursed several times. Wu Kang adopted the strategy of "You scold you, I will do mine" and was so angry that he blew his beard and glared. However, the old fox was not bad. Although he scolded fiercely, he never took any serious action. He turned a blind eye to punctuation marks.

Wu Kang pointed to the paper and continued: "Accept it?", and continued: "A few charging methods, as long as the charge is reasonable, people will agree. First say "Scholar" and become an official for three months, and the letter from home will be worth tens of thousands of yuan. I want to send my sister a letter to ride a horse, and I will eat horses and chew them all over the place, and at least four cents of yuan will be paid for by a bandit. If there is an accident, the horse is robbed by a bandit and loses dozens of cents of yuan. If there is a express delivery system, you can wait for a reply message with only a few hundred cents of yuan. Why not do it?"

After saying that, the official said, "Of course, I can stop the troops from going there, and let the minor officials in my subordinates go there. I am stingy and don't pay the travel expenses. He must pay out of his own pocket and will definitely scold me secretly. When the letter comes back, it will become more serious and extort merchants and make up for the losses. If there is a express delivery, the above will not happen."

The big bosses nodded one after another, and there were too many cases of officials treating officials with harsh treatment. Wang Linrui, a military officer, said: "The change is reasonable. If there is a express delivery system, officials will not object. Workers, farmers and travelers will not object, nor will they respond to the letters, and merchants will not object."

Sun Yingyuan, a military officer in Sicang, stroked his beard and said, "If the express delivery exists, scholars, farmers, industry and commerce will use it, saving money, effort and worry. Officials who work outside, stay away from the sergeants from their hometowns, marry their daughters far away, and businessmen who do business outside will not be stingy with some money."

"Since all the uncles agree, I will continue to say." Wu Kang was in a good mood and continued to make a long statement: "The existence of express delivery will encourage the communication needs of the people, and it is certain that the court makes money. For every penny earned, the treasury will be less. If the policy and management are properly managed, maybe five years later, the station system will be even in the income and expenditure. Perhaps in another five years, the system will feed back 50,000 treasurys to the treasury every year."

The venue was silent and followed by whispering. Wu Kang was full of confidence, and the express delivery masters in later generations made a fortune. A few minutes later, the cough sounded and the venue became quiet. Cui Yixuan ordered the clerk: "The content of today's conversation must be recorded without saying a word. Change it, and you continue!"

A piece of paper with the words "Military Morality" was hung on a nail, "In addition to the economy, the court can also gain the morale of the army. The soldiers who went to war for their hometown or went to war, were worried all day long, and even became home, so their morale was naturally not high. What's more serious is that they were contagious in the military camps, and the consequences were unimaginable."

Wu Kang continued: "At this moment, the letter from the family came, and I was naturally happy to know that the family was safe and sound. A happy soldier could contagiously spread a fire, and a fire would contagiously spread a team... The whole Zhechong Mansion was very morale. At the same time, the soldier replied to the family and settled the hearts of the family. Both sides would be grateful to the court, which would both gain the morale of the army and the hearts of the people."

"Change it slowly," Cui Yixuan waved his hand to interrupt and ordered Yu Hongzhi: "This is a military and political matter. Yu commanded the commander to take my seal, summon all bad people, strictly guard the second hall of the state and the government, and prohibit anyone from stepping in. Those who violate it will be killed without any attention!"

Yu Hongzhi responded to the promise, and Cui Yixuan issued a ban to the clerk, indicating that Wu Kang continue.

The "Superior Officer" was hung on the paper, and Wu Kang continued to say: "Every state and county have a Supplementary Officer who receives the salary of the court, travels around the country and does nothing all day long. Once the express delivery system is established, they will kick them all in. If you don't say anything else, you will always write letters on your behalf, right?"

Zhao Biejia's annoying face flashed through his mind, and he said with great wits: "Most ordinary people are illiterate, so they ask the elderly care officials to work in the inn, write letters sent and read letters received. The people save money to write letters, and are even more grateful to the court's benevolent government. Officials use their benefits, and the people are grateful and have a kill of two birds with one stone."

After saying that, Lu Huaiyuan jokingly said, "In order not to go to Zhao Biejia to practice calligraphy, Erlang is doing everything he wants. It is a typical public revenge! Look at your handwriting, you have not made any progress, like a dog-scratched graffiti. My Wu Niang's calligraphy is better than you write, why don't you... I take Wu Niang as my teacher?"

The laughter sounded, and the big guys were happy again. Wu Kang blushed with embarrassment, and was grateful to put on the "official" paper, and changed the topic: "Officials have a certain number, one carrot and one pit, and the express delivery system is established, and many official positions will be born."

The big guys nodded repeatedly. The new imperial institution means a new official position. No matter whether it is the five surnames and seven hopes or the poor, they will not object. The essence of scholars: whoever makes me an official will be regarded as the president, and I will serve in front of the horse. Whether the president is the Han and Tang dynasties, the Mongolian Yuan and the Manchu Qing dynasties, it doesn’t matter.

Wu Kang continued: "There are also scholars who do nothing all day long and write poems that complain without any illness. They recruit them as clerks, write letters, read letters, work and study, which can not only support their families, but also increase their knowledge. In this way, the inn is a talent market, and the court will definitely accept it happily."

On the "summary" page, he summarized: "The establishment of a express delivery system will make the court invest less and the benefits will be extremely high. He will get huge amounts of copper coins, the loyalty of the scholars, farmers, industrial and commercial troops, arrange redundant officials in the court, and obtain talent reserves, and kill the numbers in one fell swoop! In addition, this is an emerging cause and will not touch the interests of others, and the voices of opposition should be very small."

The big bosses were dumbfounded and looked at Wu Kang like a monster. Cui Yixuan was excited and tried to calm himself down. He said lightly: "If you want to convince the court, these are far from enough, and there are still many problems. The one who is at the forefront is the corruption of the postman."

"Mr. Cui's words are reasonable," the military officers joined the army, Qin Li, and added: "I want to send a letter to Chang'an. I have to spend fifty cents to go to the inn. I can find the postmen who run to the postmen in private, and I can buy it for thirty cents. The postmen who send the letter to Chang'an and eat thirty cents alone, but the court will not lose a single document."

Wu Kang was prepared and hung "stamps" paper with a firm word: "The so-called stamps are bills posted on envelopes, sold uniformly by the court. They are a size of one inch square, printed exquisite pictures, and can be used as the amount of copper coins, such as ten or twenty cents, etc., and sold to local inns, preferably merchants from all over the country."

"Change it, interrupt it." Sun Yingyuan, a military officer in Sicang, raised a new question: "What you mean is to use stamps instead of copper coins, and the inn will not directly collect money. Once this method is implemented, there will be many illegal vendors who will make fake stamps."

Wu Kang smiled helplessly. There is really nothing he can do about this. There are still counterfeit money in later generations! Cui Yixuan thought deeply and said lightly: "How to eliminate fake stamps is the court's own business, so that all the civil and military officials of the court can find a way. We only make suggestions, and whether to adopt them or not, we cannot give up on the food because of choking... and continue to say it."

Wu Kang pondered for a moment and said: "Uncle Qin sent a letter to Chang'an, first go to the stamp shop and ask how much postage is required. It takes forty months and has a stamp worth forty, and if there is no stamp, two stamps of twenty are posted. Take the letter to the inn, and the innkeeper stamps the official seal. In order to prevent the stamps from being reused, half of the stamps are stamped, and half are stamped on the stamps."

Sun Mao, the Sihu Army, laughed and said, "The answer to change is not the question. Even if there are stamps, even if the inn does not charge money, it cannot stop the inn from embezzling the postmen. The inn did not buy stamps, and directly bypassed the inn and still asked the inn to bring letters."

Hanging the paper "change people and horses" and Wukang started a long discussion: the working mode of the post station is now "change horses but not people". The postmen from Wuzhou to Chang'an, changing horses in the middle. "change people and horses" means the postmen from Wuzhou, and only allowed to go to Muzhou and hand over the letter to Muzhou.

The Muzhou Post inspected letters, and those who did not stamp or did not comply with the regulations, were selected and returned, and reported to the supervision department to prevent corruption. Can the postmen buy Muzhou Posts, and there are also Hangzhou Posts waiting, and there are Yangzhou Posts further ahead. Can he buy all the posts?

After Wu Kang said that, he put on the "postal process" and said: "The postmen arrived in Muzhou and handed over the mail from Wuzhou Post and checked the mail to Wuzhou. He only brought back the legal mail and dispatched the mail to Wuzhou Post. We sent the postmen to each county and township according to the address. The postmen to Kuazhou Post and sent the mail from Kuazhou to the south. The postmen to Kuazhou Post and sent it to Kuazhou Post."

Wei Dingzhou, who had been silent, laughed and said, "The email delivery process is very similar to the Great Wall beacon tower, and the beacon fire and wolf smoke are delivered one after another. To achieve this process, the envelope must have a specific format, otherwise the inn will be confused."

Wu Kang laughed when he heard this. No one here can underestimate you. He opened the file bag, took out a few envelopes, and then divided them down and said: "The envelope has three parts, and it has a fixed format. On the left, it is the address of the recipient, and the format is Daozhou County and Village. For example, Jiangnan Road, Wuzhou City, Jinhua Avenue, Zhongcheng District, Wuzhou, Jiangnan Road, and Zhangcun, Lanyi Township, Jinhua County, the more specific the better."

He pointed to the middle of the envelope and said, "I wrote the name of the recipient here, and the address of the sender here is convenient for replying and returning letters. If my cousin wrote me a letter, the format is like this: the address of the receiving letter, Wuzhou City, Jiangnan Road, Jinhua Avenue, Zhongcheng District; the recipient Wukang; the address of the return letter, the harem of the Chang'an City Imperial Palace of Guannei Road."

"Don't talk nonsense," Cui Yixuan slapped the table again, scolding him fiercely: "Please take care of your stinky mouth, don't you know the trouble comes from the mouth? She is just Zhaoyi. Even if she becomes the queen, she may not be able to protect you from being fully prepared?"

Wu Kang immediately admitted his conscience and bowed to say that he was taught, but he didn't take it seriously. That's Sister Wu, who has been around for five thousand years, has the only real power female president. As long as he hugs his sister's thighs tightly, he will definitely reach the peak of his life if he is popular and he will definitely reach the peak of his life.

Lu Huaiyuan, the recorder, smiled and smoothed out the situation for Wu Kang, "Erlang, what is the address of the return letter? I can understand the reply letter, what does the return letter mean?"

Wu Kang replied: "Return letters are a special situation. I will send a letter to Sister Wu... a friend in Chang'an wrote a letter because he owed him money. He put a piece of golden leaves in the envelope. When the letter arrived in Chang'an, his friend died or moved, and he could not receive the letter. Just forget about the letters, the golden leaves are quite expensive, so it requires the return letter business."

The iron nails were hung with the "return letter" paper and continued to explain: "When you are behind the address of the sender, write more "return" characters. If your friend can't receive the letter, return the letter as the same way. When you return to Wuzhou Post, I will pay extra postage to redeem my letter."

Wei Dingzhou smiled and said, "This method is feasible, but it is not recommended. The envelope encapsulates golden leaves and is most likely taken away by the postman, causing unnecessary disputes."

Lu Huaiyuan smiled and said, "This is not a question we are concerned about. Once the postal express system is established, the court will definitely legislate. For example, postmen throwing letters, opening letters privately, and not delivering letters on time, etc., there will be corresponding punishments. What we need to do is to put forward opinions for reference by all officials in the court."

The big guys nodded one after another, Wu Kang finished his work and returned to his seat. Cui Yixuan's eyes had a unique meaning, and he stroked his beard and sneered: "I have a feeling that there is still a backhand when it changes. The postal express system is just a prelude, and you will have big moves!"

Wu Kang was stunned and looked disbelief. The old fox was too smart. In fact, in the big game of chess, it was difficult for the Tang Dynasty to have telephone, broadband, and the best information transmission was the government express delivery system. Once it flourished, stamps recognized by the people would transform gorgeously into paper money.

If you have stamps in your hand, you can directly exchange rice and noodles from farmers in need; from cloth shops in need to exchange cloth of corresponding value. To that extent, banks, bonds and other financial institutions are natural. But it is too early to say this now, Wu Kang smiled awkwardly and kept silent.

Cui Yixuan didn't force him, sat upright and coughed twice, saying in an official voice: "The suggestion of changing is very good, I agree in principle. Next, you all agree. If you think it is feasible, I will immediately submit a letter and report the postal express system to Chang'an."

As the saying goes, there will be hard work without credit. If the official documents are submitted to Chang'an, it will be a great political achievement. If they cannot be passed, everyone will lose no losses, and the reputation of being loyal to state affairs will definitely not be able to escape. There are profits inside and outside, so why not write to the book?

The big guys are all old fried dough sticks, and their eyelashes are empty. Lu Huaiyuan said first: "The analysis of Bianzhi is very clear. I think it is practical. I agree with the book Chang'an. Erlang's wonderful ideas are impressive. My uncle wants to knock on your head and see what it looks like inside."

Si Shi joined the army in Wei Dingzhou and praised: "Brother Lu said it well, Erlang is extremely smart. Especially when he holds a nest, he doesn't dare to think about it. If the incompetent people in my family have half of Erlang's ability, I will be safe! Mr. Cui, I also agree with writing a letter."

In a wave of business hype, the big guys turned into teachers and held commendation meetings. The soldiers of the army joined the Qin Li, and actually said that he had the talent of a husband. The so-called husband was the name of the prime minister in the Tang Dynasty.

This is a bit embarrassing. I really want to tell the truth. I just want to flatter Wu Zhaoyi and send chicken mushrooms to please her, but Tang Dynasty did not have a express delivery. I thought of Li Longji transporting lychees, and inexplicably had the idea of ​​"changing express delivery on the post station".

Besides, the things I made were commonplace in later generations. If you can be your husband, you will just pick up any one of them since my time, and you will be the pillars of the country!
Chapter completed!