Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

"Miss... if I may be so bold as to ask, what business do you have with so many carriages?"

"Recruit people."

Manager Qian waited for a long time, only to receive two words.

Recruiting people?

Who wants to pull a hundred carts?

He was full of questions, but money talks. The stack of silver notes on the table was shiny and white, more convincing than any logic.

"Okay, okay, okay! Miss, please wait!"

Shopkeeper Qian rubbed his hands together, grinning from ear to ear, and turned to run to the backyard.

Gu Mingyue called out to him.

"Wait a minute. A carriage alone isn't enough; we also need horses."

"My carriage needs to be equipped with two hundred horses. I don't care about breed, as long as they can pull the carriage. Retired military horses, draft horses discarded by the post stations, and pack horses that are too old to run. As long as they are not lame and have not lost all their teeth, they all count."

Manager Qian's mouth gaped open as wide as a copper bell.

Two hundred horses?

All the horse brokers in Jiangzhou combined only had three or four hundred horses in stock.

This girl opened her mouth and immediately took half of it.

"Miss, let me make this clear first. Two hundred horses are not something my small family can gather on our own. We'll need to contact seven or eight horse brokers, both inside and outside the city, which will take at least three to five days."

"Okay. Gather one hundred horses within three days, and make up the rest within five days."

Gu Mingyue took out a pen and ink from her sleeve, quickly wrote a list next to the banknotes, and pushed it in front of Manager Qian.

"The requirements for the horses are listed here. Follow these instructions, and once the goods pass inspection, you will be paid on the spot."

Manager Qian took the list, looked down at it, and saw that everything was written clearly on it.

The child must be no older than twelve, have no hidden injuries to their legs and feet, and be able to carry a load of over 300 jin (approximately 150 kg) for twenty li (approximately 10 km) without becoming breathless.

A horse, including saddle and bridle, costs seven taels of silver. One hundred horses would cost seven hundred taels.

Add to the money from the hundred carriages just now.

The total amount was nearly two thousand taels of silver.

Manager Qian's hands were trembling.

"Don't worry, Miss! I'll pawn the shop to raise the money for you!"

He jogged to the backyard, yelling for his assistant to contact the various brokerage firms. The commotion was so loud that it could be heard halfway down the street.

Gong Huo stood at the door, wrinkled his nose, and whispered, "Miss, why buy so many carriages?"

"Commute."

Gong Huo didn't understand.

Yi Wu didn't understand either.

But that wasn't something he should be worrying about. What he needed to do was record everything exactly as it was written.

[The young lady has purchased a hundred carriages and two hundred warhorses, preparing for a campaign to conquer Qin.]

Was there a Qin state surrounding Dayong?

Gu Mingyue ignored everything else; her mind was racing.

She wants to build a public transportation system.

Urban dwellers commute to and from get off work every day, squeezing onto subways and buses until they're deformed, but they still have to arrive at work on time.

This transportation system is the lifeblood of a modern city; without it, even the largest industrial chain cannot function.

Pujitang is expanding its operations in Jiangzhou.

Orange-red workshops, textile workshops, Peach Blossom Spring commercial street, duck farming industry, and water management construction site.

The workers were scattered between the three counties of Qingshui, Liuqiao, and Baihe and the main city of Jiangzhou.

I spend two or three hours walking every day, and by the time I get to my workstation, my legs are so weak that I have no energy left to work.

Therefore, this "bus route" must be established.

Free shuttle service for workers to and from get off work.

Fixed stops are set up along the route, and buses depart and return on time.

The workers at Pujitang didn't charge money, but ordinary people would symbolically accept two coins.

Two coins for the entire journey doesn't even cover the cost of feeding the horse.

The monthly wages, fodder costs, vehicle maintenance costs, and station construction costs for one hundred carts, two hundred horses, and two hundred drivers...

All of these combined cost at least several hundred taels of silver each month.

Moreover, the more they open, the more they lose money, and the larger the scale, the greater the losses.

If this thing were installed a thousand years from now in modern times, subways and buses would be entirely subsidized by the government, and every private company that tried to operate it would lose money.

Running a public transportation system in the Yong Dynasty?

They lost everything, down to their underwear.

Gu Mingyue became more and more satisfied the more she thought about it.

While Manager Qian was taking inventory of the carriages, she had Taozhi lay out paper and grind ink, and then sat down in a side hall of the brokerage firm to begin writing a business plan.

The route map, schedule, station setup, staffing, and cost budget were all written in one go, totaling eight pages.

Yi Wu stood behind her, his gaze sweeping over the densely packed words and charts on the paper.

What about "first and last bus", what about "half an hour interval between departures", what about "Line A, Line B, Line C"?

He didn't understand, "What is this?"

Gu Mingyue didn't even look up. "Bus route."

Yi Wu was a little surprised.

This Miss Gu knows so much.

When Gu Mingyue was writing the sixth page, Manager Qian came running back excitedly.

"Miss! Would you like an experienced coachman?"

Gu Mingyue was preparing to have someone find a reliable coachman to manage the caravan.

She put down her calligraphy brush. "Tell me about it."

Manager Qian rubbed his hands together and introduced the product with a smile:

"This man is named Zhang Luo, in his early forties, a local from Jiangzhou. He used to drive a long-distance horse-drawn carriage for a large cart company at the West Market for more than ten years."

"He could run from Jiangzhou to Qingshui, Liuqiao, Baihe, and even as far as the capital on the official road, with his eyes closed."

"His character is renowned in Xishikou. He never steals or smuggles goods when he's hauling for his employers, and if a customer leaves something on the truck, he'll chase after them for eight miles to return it."

Gu Mingyue raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds good. Why hasn't anyone invited him?"

Manager Qian sighed.

"After the recent floods, the roads were muddy and collapsed. He overturned his truck while delivering supplies and broke his right leg."

"After more than two months of recuperation, my leg has been reattached, but I still walk with a slight limp."

"The car rental company thought he was too disabled to drive long distances, so they fired him."

"He dragged his injured leg around Xishikou looking for work, but no one was willing to hire him."

"I have an elderly mother to support and two daughters to feed, so we're barely making ends meet."

Manager Qian shook his head at this point.

"What a waste of his driving skills."

Gu Mingyue put down her teacup.

He broke his leg, no one wanted him, but he had a family to support. He was a good person and knew the area well.

Each one alone is nothing special.

When they're all put together, it gets interesting.

"Where is he?"

"They live in an alley at the south end of Xishikou. It's not far from here, about the length of an incense stick's worth of walking."

Gu Mingyue stood up.

"take me."

The alley at the south end of Xishikou is narrow and deep.

There was a pile of chopped firewood in the corner, and several patched-up coarse cloth shirts hanging on the clothesline.

Shopkeeper Qian stopped in front of a wooden door with peeling paint and knocked on it.

"Old Zhang! Is Old Zhang home?"

A dull thud of a cane came from inside the house.

The door creaked open.

A dark-skinned, thin, and muscular middle-aged man appeared behind the door.

His right leg was strapped to a splint, and his left hand was holding a simple cane made from a tree branch.

His face was deeply lined with wrinkles, bearing the marks of wind and sun, but his eyes were bright and expressive.

He glanced at Manager Qian, then at the well-dressed young woman behind him, a look of confusion on his face.

"Manager Qian? What is it?"

Shopkeeper Qian chuckled and stepped aside.

"Brother Zhang, a distinguished guest wishes to see you. This is...."

"The owner of Pujitang," Gu Mingyue said herself.

Zhang Luo's eyebrows shot up with a "whoosh".

Pujitang?