Early October.
Wang Zhong, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, followed the canal to Anping Town, Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong (now Zhangqiu Town, Yanggu County).
There is a famous saying in the history of the Grand Canal: There are Suzhou and Hangzhou in the south and Linzhang in the north.
The Zhang here refers to Zhangqiu Town.
Zhangqiu was originally called "Zhangqiukou", just as its name suggests, the river would burst when the water rises in autumn.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the canal passed directly through Zhangqiu Town.
It was recorded in "Beihe Ji": Every year, grain is transported to the southeast to supply the capital. Huitong River is the lifeblood of the country, and Zhangqiu is the throat of the north and south.
In the seventh year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty, the censor Liu Daxia named the town Anping after he managed the river.
Since it was not an urgent order, Wang Zhong and his group did not move very fast.
The distance may be as much as a hundred miles or as little as dozens of miles a day.
It was already evening when we arrived at Anping Town.
They arrived at the gate of Anping Post Station and found only two postmen standing there.
He took out the certificate and handed it to the postman at the door and asked, "Prepare five upper rooms and food for thirteen people."
Wang Zhong lived in a single room, and the other twelve people lived in the remaining four rooms.
A postman took the certificate handed over by Wang Zhong, walked into the post station and handed it to the postmaster for inspection.
After the postmaster had checked everything, he came outside to greet them personally, saying, "Please follow me, my comrades."
Kanhe can be understood as a high-level business trip certificate, with which one can use the post stations along the way.
Another lower level business trip certificate is called a post card.
If the post station is full, people holding a Kanhe can live there first, while people holding a Yifu will have to move out or move to another place.
In the late Ming Dynasty, officials gave post tokens as gifts to their relatives.
In order to save travel expenses, Xu Xiake, the author of "Xu Xiake's Travels", used a large number of post tokens.
In fact, it cannot be blamed on the officials for having no rules, because they regarded the post stations as an invisible benefit for officials.
When relatives and friends of officials come to visit from other places, they will bring various local specialties.
As the saying goes, reciprocity is the best way to go!
You can't let the other party go back empty-handed, right?
If the other party is really allowed to return empty-handed and the news gets out, how will the officials save their faces?
But at that time, officials’ salaries were not high, so they could not afford to give valuable gifts.
Giving worthless gifts is embarrassing.
So they turned their attention to the Yifu.
This thing cannot be bought on the market, so it cannot be measured by money.
Therefore, the post symbols were regarded as gifts and given away in large quantities.
Because the post stations were occupied by a large number of irrelevant people, the cost of the post stations remained high.
Faced with this situation, Chongzhen in history decided to reform the post stations.
He did not abolish the post stations as many people said, but rather streamlined them.
According to records.
At that time, the Ming Dynasty cancelled about 30% of the post stations, saving more than 600,000 taels of silver each year.
There were many post stations that were closed in Shaanxi, and one of them, the postman at Yinchuan Post Station, lost his job after being laid off.
Later he joined the army, intending to survive on military pay.
As a result, the lieutenant general in command withheld the military pay.
In a rage, he and others killed the lieutenant general and the local county magistrate and launched a mutiny.
His name is Li Zicheng...
......
After Wang Zhong and others walked into the post station, they found that it was very empty. Not only were there not many postmen, there were not even many animals.
You should know that Anping Post Station is located at the throat of the north and the south, and its scale ranks among the top in the country.
Even if there weren't many officials staying here today, there shouldn't be so few people and animals.
As a member of the Imperial Guard who monitors the entire country, Wang Zhong decided to inquire about the situation.
He summoned the postmaster to his side and asked coldly, "We both know what level of post station Anping Post is. There are not only not many postmen in the post station, but also not many livestock. Don't you want to explain it?"
The postmaster was not panicked at all. He bowed to Wang Zhong and said, "Your Excellency, there are indeed many postmen and livestock at the post station. However, they are not in the post station at the moment. They have gone to help."
"What help?" Wang Zhong was puzzled. "How can you leave the post station without permission?"
"I am under the order of the Imperial Envoy, Lord Wang, to help transport the people."
"Transfer the people? Where to transfer? Why transfer them?" Wang Zhong was a little puzzled.
"Transport them to Fan County and Puzhou!" The postmaster replied, "There was a flood there, and the local Yuyuan bandits gathered the victims and surrounded several counties. Later, an imperial envoy, Lord Wang, came to the court to issue a call for peace. He personally went to the rebel camp to issue a call for peace."
"What a pity!" The postmaster sighed and shook his head: "Some rebels refused the imperial edict and returned to Yuyuan overnight. Other rebels accepted the imperial edict but turned around and ran back to Yuyuan to rebel again."
Wang Zhong nodded slightly, indicating that he already knew about this.
As a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he has the right to know this kind of news.
The postmaster continued, "After returning to Yuyuan, the rebellious bandits did not attack the government troops, but opened a porridge factory near Yuyuan to provide relief to the victims. The people here had no farm work after the autumn harvest, so in order to save food, they all went to Yuyuan to join the rebels. When the imperial envoy Wang heard about it, he not only did not stop them, but also asked the officials and postmen of nearby counties to help transport the people."
"That's why you see so few postmen and livestock in the post station."
"Wow!" After hearing the explanation of the postmaster, Wang Zhong almost dropped his jaw in shock, "Isn't this too outrageous?"
"Not outrageous!" The postmaster laughed, "After their vacation, the officials from Puzhou and Fan County also went out of the city to eat porridge at the porridge factory to save food. Even the government troops who were suppressing the rebellion would change into casual clothes from time to time and go to the porridge factory to eat."
"Ah?" Wang Zhong was even more surprised. "This... the rebels don't even know the identities of the civilians?"
"No one cares about this. As long as people go there, they will be given food."
"How much food do the rebels have?" Wang Zhong was even more surprised: "If they keep eating like this, even if they have 100,000 dan of food in stock, it won't be enough!"
"That's true." The postmaster also sighed.
"How far is this place from Yuyuan?" Wang Zhong suddenly asked.
"About sixty miles." The postmaster replied.
"Oh," Wang Zhong sighed.
Sixty miles!
The round trip is 120 miles, and it would take a whole day to go there to drink porridge.
He has an order and cannot delay his journey.
After sending away the postmaster, Wang Zhong and his companions ate and rested for a night before continuing on their journey.
On October 15, Wang Zhong finally arrived in Nanjing.
He first conveyed the intention of donating money to become an official to the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, and then found the Nanjing Jinyiwei to inquire about the whereabouts of Song Quan, the Inspector of Salt.
"Lord Song is not in Nanjing, he is in Yangzhou." The Nanjing Jinyiwei told him.
The Ming Dynasty established six salt transport commissioners' offices.
There are six salt transport offices, namely Lianghuai, Liangzhe, Changlu, Hedong (Shanxi), Shandong, and Fujian.
In addition, a Salt-Frying Administration was established in Liaodong to manage salt affairs.
The salt merchants in the Southern Zhili area were under the management of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office, and the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's office was located in Yangzhou.
For this reason, Wang Zhong had to leave Nanjing and go to Yangzhou.
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