Three Kingdoms

  Chapter 72 Officials at the grassroots level in the Han Dynasty

  After walking for a day, by the afternoon, some people were exhausted.

  Zhang Zhao sent someone to explore the road ahead, and after a while, he reported that there was a station three miles ahead for a rest, so Fei Qian's group of people immediately regained some energy and rushed forward at a faster speed.

  The post station is a small-scale grassroots management center that was used in ancient times to deliver news, receive officials, and repair and maintain official roads.

  General post stations have rest and accommodation areas, which are convenient for officials who come and go, or personnel who order fast horses and other personnel to settle and transfer horses. Generally speaking, there will be some soldiers in the post station to maintain the security of the post station, so normally speaking, when you arrive at the post station, you will enter the military protection area, and some thieves will not have the courage to come here to steal and rob. Compared with the wilderness, it is safer many.

  But when Fei Qian and his party arrived at the post station, Zhang Zhao went over to negotiate first, and soon came back unhappy, saying, "This is actually a private post!"

  Private posts are run by private individuals. After being filed with the government, they can be regarded as another kind of supplement to the official post.

As early as the Qin Dynasty, the transmission of military intelligence was very important. In the Han Dynasty, it was "changed from post to home", that is, the manual delivery was changed to horseback delivery, and it was stipulated that "thirty miles and one post", the delivery interval was from the end of the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States The original 25 kilometers was expanded to 150 kilometers.

Later, I felt that the transmission of official military documents was a bit monotonous, so in order to meet the needs of national management, the post station was gradually transformed into an institution with the functions of welcoming and sending off officials and special envoys, and even the large post station near Luoyang also received foreign envoys function.

However, because the cost of national power is so small, it has to be used, and disasters occurred frequently during the Eastern Han Dynasty, which ensured the normal operation of post stations across the country. The post stations that were originally government-owned gradually allowed some locals with better reputations and relatively poor family backgrounds. Wealthy local personnel participate in the establishment and management.

   The one Fei Qian encountered this time is a private post.

Official posts like Zhang Zhao who have official duties can eat and rest for free, but private posts are a bit different, after all, they are self-financed, so normally, except for some big officials or important officials who can be reimbursed by the government For expenses, no matter what the reason is for a petty official like Zhang Zhao, if he wants to stay and eat, he has to pay out of his own pocket.

   Zhang Zhao, who came from that poor place in Bingzhou, is naturally used to living a poor life with careful planning, and he is naturally a little unhappy that people who can eat from the official family have to pay for it.

   Feiqian smiled and said: "It's okay, the sun is about to set, and it's too late to go to the next station, so it's better to rest here." So he asked Uncle Fu to pay the money for everyone.

  Anyway, although Fei Qian doesn’t have much money, thanks to Cui Hou’s blessing, he still has some. When Cui Hou parted that day, because Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun were waiting behind, Cui Hou didn't say much at that time, but only said that he had prepared some road supplies for Fei Qian, and when Fei Qian set off to take a look, In addition to some common items, Cui Hou specially prepared some small silver beans and gold leaves.

   I have to say that Cui Hou is a businessman after all, so he is still careful. Although the five-baht copper coin is the best to use, it is heavy after all, and if you go out, if you carry a large piece of gold or silver, it will easily attract people's envy and cause disasters, and the second is that some small shops cannot be found when you really need to use it...

  It’s like later generations bring a check of one million yuan to eat skewers, and pay with the check after eating. The owner of the skewers shop probably wants to stick people with bamboo sticks...

  So relatively small amounts of silver beans and gold leaves are the best must-haves for traveling.

  It's easy to talk if you have money. After a while, the vehicles and horses were settled. The postmaster in the post station had a very sneaky eye. He saw that the money was sneaked out by Fei, so he went up to greet him.

  The post chief in the Han Dynasty was actually a moderate official, he could be regarded as a grassroots cadre, and he also managed a dozen or so people.

For example, Liu Bang was the head of the pavilion in the earliest days. At that time, the post station was not yet developed, and there was only one post for five miles, and one kiosk for ten miles, but now there is one post for thirty miles. Liu Bang's official position was even bigger at that time.

   Before Fei Qian could speak to the postmaster, suddenly a few soldiers on Zhang Zhao's side were making noise.

  It turned out that after Fei Qian asked Uncle Fu to pay the money, these soldiers thought they could at least have a full meal, but they didn't expect to be served a pot of millet rice and barley rice.

How could these soldiers be willing to do it? Besides, they saw that Uncle Fu gave three silver beans for nothing. If they could have a good banquet in Luoyang, it would seem that there is neither meat nor wine here, just millet rice He and Maifan couldn't control their fullness, so they thought that the post station was cheating people, so they made a fuss.

Seeing this situation, the postmaster of the post station screamed repeatedly, and knocked the pots of millet rice and wheat rice loudly, saying how big the pots were, and that the millet and wheat used were carefully selected and were not refined enough. Containing bran husks, you can only make six buckets of fine millet for a stone of thick millet...

  Fei Qian thought it was a little funny, but he didn't expect to encounter the "prawn incident" in the Three Kingdoms. However, the postmaster of the post station is right in saying that when ordinary people eat millet, rice and wheat, most of them are reluctant to remove the shells very clean, and they often eat them mixed together, so refined millet and refined wheat are more expensive.

   But no matter what, we can’t spend so much money. What’s more, just after the autumn harvest, it is the time when grain prices are the cheapest. If we wait until next spring, the price will be about the same.

   Fei Qian felt that there was no need to quarrel over a few pots of rice, so he said: "It's nothing to do with me. If that's the case, just add two more pots of rice at the price."

   Then he turned around and asked the soldiers if two more bowls of rice would be enough.

  A table of soldiers chattered and said that enough is enough, and some people said that as long as a pot is enough, Fei Qian smiled and said that it doesn't matter. Fortunately, it has been hard these days, and eating more will give you strength.

  However, the postmaster couldn’t make the postmaster feel that he was a scammer, so he asked the postmaster clearly how much each project cost, and what else would cost—

The postmaster of the post station is obviously an old man. Barabara said a lot, dinner money, breakfast money the next day, water and grass money for horses, money for feeding horses in the middle of the night, and accommodation money for several people. If you want soldiers in the post station Helping to guard the items at night also requires night money...

The postmaster of the post station smiled and said a lot with his fingers. He looked at Fei Qian who was a little dazed when he heard it, and thought triumphantly that I have seen a lot just like you. It’s not that I’m confused, I’ll count a few more when I pay the bill tomorrow, I’m sure you won’t be able to figure it out either…

Unexpectedly, after Fei devoted himself to the calculation for a while, he asked Uncle Fu to fetch a pen and paper, listed the expenses of each item mentioned by the postmaster, and then wrote down the final result, and said to the postmaster: "Look, postmaster, according to what you just said, this is 2,736 Wen, and I gave you three taels of silver beans just now. According to the current official price, the exchange of silver is 950 Wen and a tael, so You still need to get back my one hundred and fourteen wen."

   "Ah! What?!" The postmaster took the paper and calculated hurriedly, sweating profusely. After doing the calculation for a long time, he said with a dejected expression, "Your Majesty's calculation is correct..."

  Fei Qian chuckled, and said, "Since that's the case, I'll leave the rest on the cabinet for the time being. If I'm satisfied tomorrow, maybe I'll give it to you..."

"Ah! Yes! Please don't worry, Mr. Bao, I'm sure Mr. Bao is satisfied..." The station chief said while wiping his sweat and bowing his head. When he turned his face and saw the fellow watching the fun, he immediately stared at him, "You Lazy, hurry up and boil some hot water, so that the distinguished guests can freshen up later..."

The Han Dynasty is too long, and there are different opinions on the ratio of silver to money, and there is no exact data. Therefore, it is calculated according to 1:1000 under normal circumstances, and generally the money exchange shop will charge some fire consumption, which is the handling fee, so here it is based on 1:950. Forget it... If Dafang Family can provide more detailed historical records, the author will correct it again... Please recommend tickets for collection... Today is New Year's Day, add a new chapter... Thanks to the book friends of Superman Theory, I wish you a happy new year!

  (end of this chapter)