I

In the Heilongjiang and Songhua River basins, most of the indigenous boats are canoes.

Even when the Manchu Qing conquered the Daur people, they ordered the local tribes to provide a number of canoes to accompany the army. As the Manchu Qing strengthened its control over the Songhua River Basin, in order to facilitate the shipment of Dongzhu and mink fur, they finally built slightly larger ships, and the tribes in the Songhua River Basin followed suit.

In two years, Anton Duhufu (Heilongjiang Dusi) built more than 100 ships.

Anton navy troops were also compiled and trained, and officers and soldiers were directly transferred from the post post system, because many officials in the post post system were abolished officers and soldiers of the Yangtze River Navy. If the number of sailors is not enough, they will recruit the children of the sand people in the Yangtze River. These sand people used to be between farmers and water bandits, and they have long developed a tradition of loving groups and being fierce and aggressive.

From Tieling to Harbin, there are five water and land stations along the way.

From Harbin to Tongjiang, there are four waterway stations along the way.

From Tongjiang to Hailanpao, there are three waterway stations along the way.

There are very few people in each station, and there will not be more than ten people including the postmen, postmen, and even family members. Not to mention the sufficient settling allowance, there are additional subsidies, and the further north you go, the higher the subsidy fee.

The post station also functions as a trading post, and the nearby tribes will send special products such as fur and Dongzhu. A small part belongs to tribute (disguised taxation), which has to be handed over to the Anton Governor's Mansion; most of them belong to commodities, which are usually stored in post stations, waiting for merchants to buy them.

Regardless of the remoteness and bitter cold of Heilongjiang, there are many people who are willing to do business.

They are all small-scale traveling merchants, bringing cloth, tea, iron pot, grain and other commodities, and transporting them to various post stations in exchange for fur and Dongzhu. On the contrary, silver dollars and copper coins are not widely accepted for the time being, and the currency value will not be reflected until the population increases and the volume of trade increases.

The establishment of this post station and trade system quickly deepened the relationship between the imperial court and the aborigines.

Merchants can earn money, and natives can also obtain living materials, and the Dufu Mansion collects symbolic taxes (in the form of tribute) by the way. Even the post officials and post soldiers have a small amount of money to fish for. As long as they don't catch much, the Duhufu will definitely turn a blind eye.

In the next few years, the station system will continue to extend eastward, from Tongjiang to Sakhalin Island.

As long as the amount of tribute is not set too high, as long as the price of goods received is not too high, the tribes in the Northeast will not rebel. Even, whoever dares to attack the post station will inevitably become the target of public criticism. It is the only channel for the natives to obtain materials from the Han!

Zhang Tingxun set off with the grain transport team, which was actually the Anton Navy.

The ships of the Anton Navy have a displacement of only 50-100 tons. The tonnage is much larger than the Cossack ship, but it does not run so fast. The main task is to transport troops, food and goods.

Under the readjustment of the imperial court, the displacement of ships is no longer measured in "materials", but in "tons". There are tools for calculating displacement in docks all over the country, and the most direct way is to apply heavy objects like Cao Chong said.

And "ton" is a weight unit named by the emperor himself and appeared out of thin air.

1 ton = 10 stones = 1000 catties = 16000 taels = 160000 coins = 1600000 points.

It can be clearly seen that for the convenience of statistics, Emperor Zhao changed the "stone". In the past, 1 shi was equal to 120 jin, but now 1 shi is changed to 100 jin, and the intermediate conversion unit "jun" (1 shi is equal to 4 jun, and 1 jun is equal to 30 jin) has been cancelled.

Emperor Zhao also planned to change the hexadecimal system converted into catties.

But the change is too big, the currency system has to be adjusted accordingly, and the scales in the hands of the people must be replaced with new ones. Faced with opposition from the ruling and opposition parties, Emperor Zhao could only choose to compromise.

At night, the fleet stopped at the station wharf.

The pier was very poorly built, so the ground was leveled and some planks were erected by the river.

The post station is even more simple, full of low houses of rammed earth. The walls are filled with withered grass, and the roof is also covered with withered grass, so that it can prevent the cold in winter.

Soldiers helped build this kind of simple earthen house, and the few people in the post station were not enough.

When the great cause begins, everything is kept simple.

The postmen came out to greet them with the postmen, they were unable to provide food, they just came out to say hello.

Yi Cheng was very happy when several sacks of grain were brought down, and he said to Hou Rusong, the general of the grain transport team, "General Hou, the leather and pearls from the first half of the year have been collected for tribute (taxation)."

"Brother Pei, thank you." Hou Rusong handed over a cigar, "I usually don't want to smoke the high-quality goods from Gannan, let me try one."

"The general is generous!" Yicheng smiled happily.

Whether it is the navy or the post, they all came from the same system before, but now they are all thrown to the northeast, and the relationship between them is very harmonious.

Hou Rusong turned his head and asked Zhang Tingxun: "Do you want a cigar, my little grandpa?"

Zhang Tingxun was very disgusted with this address, took the cigar casually, and said with a smile: "The general should call me by my name."

Hou Rusong introduced: "Brother Pei, this is Zhang Tingxun, the son of Dudu Zhang's family."

Yicheng hurriedly cupped his hands: "Meet the young master."

"I'm Captain Zhang." The more Zhang Tingxun listened, the more depressed he became.

Yicheng said again: "Meet Captain Zhang."

"It's easy to say, Pei Yicheng is polite." Zhang Tingxun returned the courtesy.

Yi Cheng asked, "Did you bring the newspaper?"

Hou Rusong said, "I brought them here. They are all old newspapers from last year."

"As long as there are newspapers, it doesn't matter if they are new or old." Yicheng was even more happy.

The post stations in the Heilongjiang and Songhua River basins are now equipped with only three small fast boats for each station. All materials need to be transported by the navy, and the fast boats at the post station are used to convey military information.

The postmen and postmen will also farm their own land, but the main thing is to grow vegetables, and the grain fields have to be reclaimed slowly.

Even the food in Harbin was shipped from Liaoning, and then transported from Harbin to the station along the way, and the consumption on the way accounted for a large proportion. Therefore, it is impossible to station large troops in the Heilongjiang River Basin, and the logistical burden is too heavy.

When the various tribes resume agricultural production, they will start to collect taxes in kind on the farmland along the river, and the tribute of fur and Dongzhu will be cancelled.

The sailors went ashore to set up pots to make food, and Yicheng Shan invited Hou Rusong, Zhang Tingxun, and several other officers into the house to eat.

Very simple rice and vegetables with some cured meat.

Meat comes from postmen hunting in their leisure time, and the postmen here are equipped with a full set of armor. Once encountering a war, immediately put on cotton armor and fight with muskets and waist knives.

Yicheng took out the wine jar and was about to shatter the seal when Hou Rusong stopped him: "You save it for winter, don't drink it up now."

"Yes, yes, I have prepared some." Yi Cheng smiled.

Hou Rusong said to the other officers, "Pay the money!"

Including Zhang Tingxun, everyone paid for it one after another. What Zhang Tingxun took out was copper coins, and all the rest took out military tickets.

Yicheng quickly refused: "No way, no way, they are all my brothers."

"You work hard here, I can't let you spend money." Hou Rusong insisted on giving the money.

The post stations in the New Dynasty of Datong did not provide free meals, and this meal was obviously a treat for the post. The post station here was just established last fall, and it is harder than the soldiers in Harbin.

In the end, he gave the money and forced it into the hands of Yi Cheng.

After everyone had filled their stomachs and went out to chat outside, the postmaster and postmen called their wives to eat the leftovers. Because there is meat and meat, even the leftovers are better than the usual meals.

Their children were not picked up, and they were all thrown in their hometown to be taken care of by their relatives.

Li Zheng is currently applying to the imperial court to bring in more doctors. Even apprentices who have not yet graduated from the teacher will do. Try to assign doctors to each post station, and even part-time midwives in the future. And with doctors, the station will become more popular, and the nearby aborigines will definitely come to seek medical treatment and medicine, and the connection between the aboriginals and the Han people will be closer.

At this time, it was getting dark, and the postmen picked up the newspapers that had just been delivered, and read with relish last year's outdated news.

They used to be sailors, and the army had deblinding classes, so they could read a few words more or less. But reading newspapers is still a bit difficult, often halfway through reading, I would come to ask Yicheng what he meant.

They didn't love knowledge, nor did they want to broaden their knowledge. They were simply thrown into a bitter cold place to obtain more information about Han.

Reading the newspaper is like returning to the pass.

Seeing that Zhang Tingxun had no aristocratic airs, Yicheng took the initiative to ask about Nanjing anecdotes.

Zhang Tingxun said with a smile: "The biggest news in the south is that the crown prince is going to choose a concubine. Do you guys know how to choose a concubine?"

Even Hou Rusong became interested and hurriedly asked, "How did you choose?"

Zhang Tingxun said: "You have to graduate from middle school. Ten candidates from each province are selected and sent to Nanjing for re-selection. The first step in the re-selection is to take an exam. If the exam is too poor, it means that the local officials have cheated. Not a high school graduate!"

"Hahaha," Hou Rusong laughed loudly, "This is really strange, the crown prince also has to take the test to choose a concubine."

Yicheng's eyes lit up: "Then it doesn't mean that the daughters of us frontier soldiers, as long as they can graduate from middle school, can also have the opportunity to be the concubine of the Tian family?"

"Then you should give birth to a daughter as soon as possible," Hou Rusong teased, "The crown prince is about to get married, and he will have a grandson in a year or two. If you give birth to a daughter, she will be about the same age as the grandson, so in the future, you will be married." Heaven's chance."

Yi Cheng happily said: "Tomorrow, I will work hard with my mother-in-law."

"Hahahaha!" Everyone laughed.

In Harbin, a school is going to be built, but it's too late because there are no children at all.

In the future, the children of the post stations along the way can be sent to school. The primary school must be free, and the secondary school will increase the number of public-funded students. This can be regarded as preferential treatment for the border soldiers.

There was a lively chat here, and the postmen stopped reading the newspapers, and gathered around to listen to Zhang Tingxun's anecdotes about Nanjing.

Zhang Tingxun is not good at reading, but he is good at telling stories, and he specializes in telling interesting stories about high-ranking officials and noble families. A certain official, who is afraid of his wife, was chased into the street by his wife with a broom. A so-and-so dude was caught when the government was raiding the casino, his parents felt ashamed, and beat him in the street when he was fined to collect the money.

Where have the frontier soldiers heard of these secrets?

When it was getting dark, everyone still had something to say and respected Zhang Tingxun as a top storyteller.

Zhang Tingxun also found happiness here, he likes dealing with soldiers, unlike when he was in Nanjing, there were so many rules, as if he was a bird that flew out of the cage.