The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 269 Postal Supervisor

The city of Andong Duhufu is actually not far from the city of Beijing. The post office of the inner court has set up ten post stations along the way, and it usually takes three days to send letters.

Today's postal supervision has covered the main states and counties in the north and south of Ming Dynasty, and is spreading to the southwest, northwest and remote provinces such as Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan.

Compared with the traditional post station abolished by Chongzhen, the new post office is far from being comparable to the post station in terms of function and communication speed.

The current postal supervision is headquartered in the northern and southern capitals, with one in each province and countless transfer stations.

The entire communication network is divided into main lines and branch lines. The busiest main line is undoubtedly from Beijing to Nanjing. For the time being, it only transmits letters and official documents for the official and the royal family. Urgent three.

The main line is mainly the communication between the two capitals in the north and the south and the provincial governments. Basically, there is a transfer station every [-] miles, and a transfer station is basically stationed by a couple, equipped with three fast horses.

Ordinary letters and official documents, after being received by each transfer station on the main line, just ensure that they are delivered to the next transfer station within two hours. If it is late, they can wait until dawn the next day.

The six-hundred-mile expedited delivery must be delivered within an hour and a half, even if it is dark, there is no delay, and the eight-hundred-mile express delivery must be delivered within an hour.

The branch line is not so urgent. It is mainly used for communication between the prefectures and counties in the province. Basically, a transfer station in Baili can be achieved, but there is also a clear time limit. The official documents of each county must be sent to the prefectural capital within three days. The transit stations in each state capital must be sent to the branch of the province within five days. This is just an ordinary official document. If it is an urgent official document, it cannot be delayed, and it must be sent immediately.

Of course, under normal circumstances, there will be no such urgent documents.

As for the reception of passengers and officials, it is run by the husband and wife in the transit station.

Because each transfer station is a public-private partnership model, the transfer station belongs to the royal family in name, and the couple in the station are also members of the royal family in name.

But there is no salary. Instead, he has to pay a sum of money every year, and related business taxes, and he has to pay for three horses himself.

Even so, the business travelers that each transfer station receives every year can make the contracting couple earn a lot of money, especially at the transfer stations on various main lines, each couple has to hire a lot of manpower.

In order to avoid competition from other merchants, there are basically no other inns on the main line except for transit stations.

Because the inns along the official road without a business license will be directly seized. Except for the transfer station, the Ministry of Commerce will not issue business licenses to other businesses.

As a result, business travelers along the way either went to nearby towns to settle down, or could only settle in these transfer stations. In order to ensure the safety of the transfer stations, the imperial court also allowed contractors to equip their subordinates with weapons.

Because of this contracting model, the operating costs of postal supervision are very low, and they can even make money.

Of course, it is mainly the transfer stations on the main line that can make money. Royal can charge a lot of contracting fees every year. The amount of contracting fees is charged according to the different main lines. The contracting fee was as high as more than 50 taels, and the contractors who came and went had to deliver the official documents obligatoryly. Only urgent official documents would be compensated for a sum of money.

Even so, the transfer stations on the various main lines have now become sweet pastries, which have been robbed by countless people, but basically all of them are obtained by retired disabled soldiers.

The transfer station on the branch line is not so popular, and the royal family not only does not charge the contract fee every year, but also compensates a sum of money for the first official document delivered. Of course, the war horse also has to be purchased by itself.

Even for transfer stations in some remote areas, the royal family has to subsidize a sum of money every year, otherwise no one will contract them at all.

Generally speaking, the postal supervisor can basically achieve a balance of income and expenditure.

For those transit stations that cannot deliver official documents on time, or those whose war machines are not up to standard, the royal family will punish them accordingly.

For example, for ordinary official documents, once the first fine is delayed, the contracting qualification will be directly disqualified for the second time.

Six hundred li expedited, once the delay is directly disqualified, eight hundred li expedited, not only will the disqualification be directly disqualified, but also the responsibility of the contractor will be held.

Therefore, the contractors on each main line basically send their men to the next transfer station on a fast horse after receiving the official document, whether it is urgent or ordinary, even at night, not because they are afraid of delays, but because they are afraid of people. Miscellaneous eyes lost the official document.

There is a main route from Andong Duhufu to Beijing. Both Huang Degong and Hou Xun chose to expedite the [-] miles, and the ten transfer stations did not delay for a moment. In the middle of the night, the memorials of the two were sent to the headquarters of the post office. Then he was hurriedly sent to the inspector of ceremonies in the palace.

Compared with the past, when the palace gates are closed at night, it is difficult for information to enter and exit the palace city, but now there is no such restriction.

As long as urgent official documents are delivered to the gate of the palace, the imperial guards guarding the gate must be hoisted up with a hanging basket, and then sent immediately to the Supervisor of Rituals, and the Supervisor of Rituals also has female officers on duty at night.

The current Supervisor of Ceremonies can be said to have completely become the emperor's secretariat, and the resident has also moved to the south wing of the Qianqing Palace.

In today's entire Forbidden City, there is no longer a single eunuch, except for the court ladies, female officials, female soldiers, and even the imperial doctor who was on duty before, has been replaced by a girl recruited from the people.

It can be said that in the entire Forbidden City, Zhu Cihong was the only man, and even his two younger brothers were driven to live in the imperial city. The relative improvement of the environment has also made Emperor Xiao Zhu no longer as suspicious as before. Even at night, he can walk around at will, except The gates of the palace walls of the Forbidden City are strictly forbidden to be opened at night, but the gates of other palaces are not so strict.

In addition, at night, the entire Forbidden City is brightly lit, causing many court ladies who can't sleep at night to secretly go to the imperial garden to enjoy the shade.

Of course, the premise is that you don't get caught by the female soldiers on patrol. Otherwise, you will be fined, confinement, or beaten.

At this moment, the female officer on duty of the Supervisor of Ceremonies received two urgent official documents of six hundred miles, and after opening them for inspection, she didn't know whether she should report them to His Majesty immediately.

Because it is necessary to deliver the newspaper immediately for the express delivery of [-] miles, and it is up to the female officer to decide for the express delivery of [-] miles.

However, the female officer's analytical ability was obviously lacking. She was worried that she would make a fuss and wake up His Majesty, which would make His Majesty unhappy, but she was also worried that if she reported it again tomorrow, it would delay the important affairs of the court.

So he read the two memorials carefully twice, and still gritted his teeth and carried the memorials to the main palace of Qianqing Palace, but was stopped by a group of female soldiers just before the gate.

"stop!"

"Urgent official documents must be submitted to His Majesty immediately."

The female officer did not panic, first took out her waist badge, and then handed over the official document.

The leading female general, although she recognized her, still took the waist badge, looked at it pretendingly, then took the official document, and found that it was just two urgent documents from six hundred miles away, so she couldn't help asking: "Are you sure you want to report now?" To His Majesty?"

His Majesty and Manager Liu have been tossing about tonight, the loud noise could be heard outside just now, and it is estimated that the fight is going on right now, so I really don't want to report it now.

If it was an opportunity like this before, she would naturally be eager for it, but now if she is carried on the dragon bed by His Majesty who is in high spirits in a daze, it will be over.

"Well, sure." The hesitation on the female officer's face disappeared for a moment, and then she nodded firmly.

If he makes a big fuss, at most he will be scolded by His Majesty, but if he delays a major event, then scolding will not be enough. She can still tell which is more important.

"just wait."

The female general returned the official document to her, gave her a hard look, then dropped a sentence, pushed the door open and entered.

(End of this chapter)