Three Kingdoms

After walking for a day, by afternoon, some people were already tired.

Zhang Zhao sent people to explore the road ahead. After a while, he reported back that there was a post station three miles ahead where they could rest. So Fei Qian's group suddenly became more energetic and sped forward.

A post station was a small grassroots management center in ancient times that was used to deliver messages, receive officials, and repair and maintain official channels.

Generally, inns have areas for rest and accommodation, which are convenient for officials coming and going, or people who are delivering orders and fast horses, to stay and change horses. Normally, the inn will have some soldiers to maintain the security of the inn, so normally when you arrive at the inn, you will enter the military protection area. Some thieves will not have the courage to come and steal and rob. It is safer than the wilderness. many.

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

A private post is opened by a private person, and after being registered with the government, it can be regarded as another kind of supplement to the official post.

As early as the Qin Dynasty, great emphasis was placed on the transmission of military intelligence. In the Han Dynasty, "mail was changed to postal service", that is, human walking delivery was replaced by horseback express delivery, and "one post within thirty miles" was stipulated. The delivery interval was from the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The 25 kilometers were expanded to 150 kilometers.

Later, I felt that the delivery of official military information was a little too simple, so in order to meet the needs of national management, the post station was gradually transformed into an institution that had the function of welcoming and sending off officials and envoys. Even the big post station near Luoyang also received foreign envoys. function.

However, because the national power was limited to a certain amount, it had 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-run gradually allowed some local posts with better reputations and better family backgrounds to Wealthy local personnel are involved in the establishment and management.

Like the one Fei Qian encountered this time is a private station.

Official posts like Zhang Zhao, who have official duties, can eat and rest for free, but private posts are a little different. After all, they are responsible for their own profits and losses, so normally, except for some big officials or important people who can be reimbursed by the government, As for expenses, no matter what the reason is, a petty official like Zhang Zhao has to pay for accommodation and food out of his own pocket.

Zhang Zhao, who came from a poor place in Bingzhou, was naturally accustomed to living a poor life on a budget, so he was naturally a little unhappy that someone who could eat from the official family had to pay for it.

Fei Qian smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. The sun is about to set and it's too late to rush to the next inn. 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, he still has some thanks to Cui Hou. When Cui Hou said goodbye that day, because Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and others were waiting behind him, Cui Hou didn't say much at that time. He just said that he had prepared some traveling supplies for Fei Qian. When Fei Qian set off, he took a look. In addition to some common items, Cui Hou also specially prepared some small silver beans and gold leaves.

I have to say that Cui Hou is a businessman after all, and he is still careful. Although the five-baht copper coin is the most useful, it is bulky after all. If you carry a large piece of gold and silver when you go out, firstly, it will easily make people jealous and cause trouble. Secondly, when you really need to use it, you will not be able to find it in some small shops...

Just like later generations would bring a check for one million to eat skewers and pay with the check after eating. The owner of the skewers shop would probably want to stab someone in the heart with a bamboo skewer...

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

It's easy to talk to people who have money, and the vehicles and people were settled in a short time. The postmaster in the post station was very discerning and saw that the money was sneaked out by Fei, so he stepped forward to say hello.

The postmaster in the Han Dynasty was actually a medium-sized official. He could be regarded as a grassroots cadre. He also managed more than a dozen people under his command.

For example, Liu Bang served as the chief of the pavilion in the earliest days. At that time, post stations were not developed yet. There was only one post office for five miles and one pavilion for ten miles. Now, there is one post office for thirty miles. If you calculate it this way, the post director of the post station is more than Liu Bang's official position was even larger at that time.

Before Fei Qian and the postmaster could speak, suddenly several soldiers over Zhang Zhao started making a 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 unexpectedly they were served a bowl of millet rice and wheat rice. After they devoured it, when they wanted to add more, they were told that they had to pay more.

These soldiers are not willing to do anything. Besides, they saw that Uncle Fu gave three silver beans. If they can have a good banquet in Luoyang, then here there is neither meat nor wine, just millet and rice. He couldn't keep enough food and rice, so he thought it was the inn that was trying to trick people, so they started to make a fuss.

Seeing this, the postmaster of the post station screamed and screamed. He also banged the pots of millet rice and wheat rice, saying how big the pots were. He also said that the millet and wheat used were carefully selected and were not refined. Containing chaff, one stone of coarse corn can only produce six measures of fine millet...

Fei Qian found it a bit funny, but he didn't expect to encounter the "prawn incident" in the Three Kingdoms. However, the postmaster of the post station is right about one thing, that is, when ordinary people eat millet, rice and wheat rice, most of them are not willing to clean the shells very clean, and they often eat them mixed, so refined millet and refined wheat are more expensive.

But no matter what, we can't use that much money. What's more, now that the autumn harvest has just passed, it is the time when food prices are at their lowest. If we wait until next spring, the price will be about the same.

Fei Qian felt that there was no need to argue over a few bowls of rice, so he said: "I don't care. In that case, just give me two more bowls of rice according to the price."

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

The soldiers at the table kept saying that it was enough, and some said that just one pot would be enough. Fei Qian smiled and said it didn't matter, he had been suffering recently, so he had to eat more to gain strength.

However, he couldn't let the post manager of the post station think that people like him were easy to steal money, so he asked the post director of the post station clearly how much each project cost and what else it would cost -

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

The postmaster of the post station smiled and babbled a lot with his fingers. He looked at Fei Qian who was in a daze listening to it. He thought smugly that you are the only one who has seen a lot. Even if you ask me clearly, what can you do? It’s not that I got confused. I’ll count a few more when I check out tomorrow, but you won’t be able to figure them out either...

Unexpectedly, after Fei calculated carefully for a while, he asked Uncle Fu to get a pen and paper, list the costs of each item mentioned by the postmaster of the post station, then write down the final result, and said to the postmaster of the post station: "Postmaster, come and see, according to what you just said, this is 2,736 taels of silver. I just gave you three taels of silver beans. According to the current official price of silver, it is 950 taels of silver. Therefore, You still need to find me one hundred and fourteen cents."

"Ah! What?!" The postmaster of the post station took the paper and calculated hurriedly. He was sweating profusely. After calculating for a long time, he said with a dejected face, "Lang Jun's calculation is correct..."

Fei Qian chuckled and said: "In that case, I will leave the rest on the cabinet for now. If we are satisfied tomorrow, I might give it to you..."

"Ah! Yes! Sir, please rest assured, I will definitely satisfy you..." The postmaster of the post station said while wiping his sweat and bowing his head. When he turned around and saw the man watching the fun, he immediately stared at him, "You What a lazy boy, why don't you go and boil some hot water so that the distinguished guests can freshen up and relieve their fatigue later..."