Chapter 156 Chapter 156 Logistics System
Suppressing bandits has always been a difficult task. Since Lin Si ascended the throne, Nan Qiao and Nan Shuang have taken turns leading troops to suppress bandits in Da'an.
During the Dachen period, the bandits who took advantage of the situation to rob and loot were naturally no match for the well-trained Da'an army.
What's more, Da'an can use □□, so it's useless even if they hide in the deep mountains which are easy to defend and difficult to attack.
During this period, Nan Shuang and Nan Qiao rescued countless civilians and seized countless stolen money and goods.
Not only did it strike at the bandits who evolved from refugees during the Dachen natural disaster, but it also wiped out some long-standing mountain bandits.
After Nan Shuang and Nan Qiao returned to Anjing, they moved directly into the house given by Lin Si. The servants in the house were hired in advance.
The two greedy girls had been working hard for several years, and they were a little uncomfortable to relax for a while.
The two men, who had never been officials, got together to discuss the matter.
"Sister, we are generals now. Wouldn't it be inappropriate for His Majesty to let us rest at home?"
"Yes, yes, the general seems to be going to court. Didn't Yin Sheng come to see us just now with something? It seems he is going to court."
"But His Majesty told us to rest at home, so let's rest."
"Wow, this bed is so soft."
"Sister, I'm hungry. I seem to smell something fragrant."
"Really, it smells so good."
The two sisters turned their gaze to the door.
A steady maid was carrying a small food box. She smiled faintly. "My lords, this is the food that Lord Yin just sent. Would you like to try it now?"
The food box in the maid's hand is the source of the fragrance, so Nan Shuang and Nan Qiao must eat it now.
You know, when she was in Li County, the county lady had the habit of having afternoon tea, and they could almost always get it for free.
Now is a good time for afternoon tea.
Fried chicken was hard to buy, so Yin Sheng had to find someone to queue up for it.
Nan Shuang and Nan Qiao opened the lunch box and saw several pieces of golden fried crispy chicken inside. It was a food they had never seen before.
The maid introduced, "This is the most popular delicacy in Anjing right now. It's called fried chicken. I guess the two masters are away suppressing bandits all year round, so they haven't heard of it yet."
As soon as the maid finished speaking, the two greedy girls each picked up a piece and bit into it fiercely.
The fried chicken shell is crispy and fragrant, and it bursts with juice when you bite into it.
Nan Shuang and Nan Qiao were so engrossed in eating that they couldn't even finish their speech. The fried chicken was very hot right out of the fryer, but now that it had been left for a while, the temperature was just right.
Nan Shuang and Nan Qiao had just finished eating a piece of fried chicken when a servant came to the door to announce that there were several idle men at the gate of the Nan Mansion.
The maid who delivered the fried chicken is now the head maid of the Nan Mansion, named Shilan. She is the most steady and appropriate, and was specially selected by the people from the Ministry of Rites.
Shilan responded and told the two adults to eat slowly while she went out to see what was going on.
As a result, when the door opened, there were nearly ten idle men standing at the door, each holding a lunch box in his hand.
Shi Lan didn't order any takeout. These two adults had just returned to Beijing and might not even know what takeout was.
So Shi Lan wrote down the signatures and messages of each idle man one by one, and then asked the servants to carry the food boxes to the dining room.
Nan Shuang and Nan Qiao had just finished eating fried chicken and were still enjoying it.
"This fried chicken is delicious, but the portion is so small. We only had three pieces each."
"Yeah, can't we just buy a big pot and eat it slowly?"
"Sister, I feel even hungrier after eating."
"Me too, what should I do?"
Shi Lan appeared at this time, "My Lords, there was a delivery at the door just now. I think it was ordered by the Lords in the court to congratulate you on your return to the capital."
Shi Lan started calling out names. "These are all the ones I ordered for you in the name of spring. Remember to eat well. The adults ordered them."
Nan Shuang and Nan Qiao smiled at each other. "His Majesty ordered it for us!"
"It must be His Majesty. Who else but His Majesty would dare to use Sister Chunyi's name?"
"Sister, it is His Majesty who truly understands us."
Shi Lan's eyes widened slightly. She didn't expect that the person who received the most deliveries was the current emperor.
"This one was ordered by Lord Liang, who knows you've returned to the capital and is currently too busy to visit you. This one carries the same message, but it's signed by Lord Zuo. This one, 'Wow, you two are back in the capital! I'll come visit you tomorrow after I'm done with my work,' was ordered by Lord Feng. And this one is also ordered by Lord Mo, who congratulates you two on your triumphant return."
Shilan and other maids took out all the delicacies from the food boxes, which were basically the most popular foods in Anjing at the moment.
Nan Shuang and Nan Qiao's craving for fried chicken was completely relieved, and the two of them ate voraciously.
When suppressing bandits, they basically ate special military rations, which were enough to fill them up even if they didn't eat much. Although the two sisters were not picky, they would get tired of eating too much.
Now that I'm back in Anjing, it's like a mouse falling into a rice jar.
Shilan had never seen a girl who could eat so much.
Nan Shuang and Nan Qiao were quite curious about the delivery service. "Delivery is so convenient, let's order it for dinner later."
Shi Lan was slightly surprised, "Do you still want to have dinner?"
Nan Shuang took a sip of milk tea and said, "Of course I have to eat. This is just afternoon tea."
*
After the bandit suppression is completed, the logistics system that Lin Si has always wanted to develop can be put on the agenda.
Today, the operation and production of cement factories are very mature, so the paving of cement roads is also progressing steadily.
Anjing had just paved a cement road, and now the ox carts used rubber tires, making the driving smooth and stable, without the shaking feeling of the past.
Xiguang Road and Nandong Road are the places with the largest cement production. One of the advantages of using local materials is that the cement roads in these two places are paved the fastest.
Nowadays, it is very easy to recruit common people to work in the county government. They have to be paid anyway. It is not like before, when every household was afraid of corvee labor.
The people also benefit from paving the road, so they work extra hard.
Official roads are the easiest to pave, after all, the population density is much lower than that in alleys and counties. After paving, they are covered with rubberized waterproof cloth, so there is no need to worry even on rainy days.
Speaking of rubber, Ding Shui thinks it is a really good thing. The ox carts in the prefectures and counties have been replaced with rubber tires, and the people say that they are very comfortable to sit in, without the shaking feeling as before.
The official road was being paved, and Ding Shui, as the prefect, would go to check on it every few days.
Now that Da'an's anti-bandit plan has been successfully completed, the safety factor has been greatly improved, and more people are traveling on the official road.
Ding Shui thought to himself that this logistics system would eventually reach Xiguang Road, so he had to send people to negotiate with all the escort agencies on Xiguang Road.
The logistics system is mainly to meet the people's needs for sending parcels and money, and is improved on the basis of the original post stations.
There was no logistics in ancient times, and post stations only served the court and officials. If ordinary people wanted to send something, they would either choose an escort agency or choose someone they knew to make a private entrustment.
Feng Ling used to make a living by taking on private commissions. Although she didn't seem to be very smart, she was very good at reading and remembering the way.
The cost of hiring an escort agency is very high. Unless you are dealing with a large item or are a wealthy family, you cannot afford it.
The meaning of the document issued by Liang Nian is to integrate all the escort agencies into the logistics system.
As for how to convince the people from the escort agencies, that is what the prefect and the county magistrate need to do.
It is of course unrealistic to open the entire logistics system at once. Lin Si and Liang Nian first chose Jingji Road where Anjing is located and the adjacent Jinbei Road as pilot areas.
*
Zhao Chun's Zhao Escort Agency was passed down from his ancestors, and it has been passed down to him for the fourth generation.
But Zhao Chun felt that this escort company might be destroyed in his hands.
The escort agency's business is getting worse and worse. One reason is that the price of escorting and delivering goods is already expensive, and their return trip is basically an empty trip if they have no goods, so the cost is naturally high.
Now that His Majesty has ascended the throne, the people's lives have gradually improved, and the crackdown on bandits is progressing steadily. Many people feel that it is better to work hard to deliver the goods themselves than to spend the money.
In addition, the escort agency is not official after all, and there are always some people who want to take advantage of others, charge more money, or secretly take valuable goods, which often leads to disputes.
Zhao's escort agency hasn't received any orders for a month.
Last month, a businessman finally came to ask about it, but when he saw that the truck they were using to transport the goods did not have rubber tires, he immediately became disgusted.
"You don't have rubber tires, so the ride must have been very bumpy. I can't handle it. What if it breaks on the road?"
In order to retain the customer, Zhao Chun explained, "Sir, the official roads are now all cement roads, which are very smooth. Even without rubber tires, they won't shake as much as before. I guarantee that your goods will be safe."
The wealthy businessman thought about it and finally shook his head. "I'm still worried. This batch of goods is all made of glass. If they break, I'll lose a lot of money."
Of course Zhao Chun knew that rubber tires were good, but replacing them was also a considerable expense. He was very short of funds now, and he had children at home who were still studying. If they wanted to be admitted to a university in the future, that would cost money.
Zhao Chun couldn't get any business, and the escorts couldn't get any wages.
Until Zhao Chun decided to disband the escort agency, he gathered the escorts together the day before the disbandment.
"This escort agency is having trouble getting any business these days. I figured it would be better to let you go and do other work. Life is good now, and as long as you're willing to work, you'll never starve to death."
The escorts, not being teenagers and without night school education, also sighed. "Nowadays, even good jobs require a night school diploma. We have the strength, but we're probably just going to be gatekeepers."
The few of them had no money to buy wine, so they could only make do with a few glasses of plain water.
One of the escorts even asked, "Is this water boiled? You can't drink it raw."
Zhao Chun was speechless. "Of course. Who still drinks raw water these days? Don't you want to die?"
After they finished drinking the water, they all worried about the future. Then there was a knock on the door.
Zhao Chun went to open the door and saw a man and a girl.
The two of them said straight out that they were Bai Zhi.
Zhao Chun cautiously asked the two Bai Zhi what they were doing at the escort agency.
"Let's not waste any more time talking. The higher-ups are planning to develop a logistics system, and the escort agency will be brought under the imperial court's management. Who among you is in charge of this escort agency? If you still want to work in the logistics system, you can stay. If you want to work elsewhere, you can leave."
Zhao Chun's mind was suddenly confused. He nodded. "Me."
Zhao Chun kept slapping his head, not understanding what it meant to put it under the management of the imperial court.
"Please wait a moment, my lords. I am a rough man with a slow brain. Can I have my wife and daughter come along? My daughter is in the last semester of middle school and is very smart."
Zhao Chun's wife and daughter also arrived quickly.
Zhao Chun didn't understand, and the escorts were even more confused. A group of young men stood behind Zhao Chun's wife Shi Yan and daughter Zhao Mingchen, trying to understand the conversation between the four people.
After the conversation, Shi Yan roughly understood what was going on.
She felt that it was a good thing that the escort agency was under the control of the imperial court, because from now on, the imperial court would pay the people in the escort agency.
Because the people in the escort agency all have experience in delivering goods, we consider recruiting them. Otherwise, if they are all disbanded, the court can recruit new people.
Shi Yan whispered a few words to her daughter Zhao Mingchen, then turned around and said a few words to Zhao Chun.
A group of people gathered together to discuss it and finally decided on this matter.
Bai Zhi took out a fine charcoal pencil and wrote on the paper, leaving a message. "I'll have you all undergo collective training in a while. Literacy is essential. Without it, this logistics system won't work."
Upon hearing this, the escort and Zhao Chun paced around the room. "This requires literacy and training. How can I possibly learn that?"
After several people completed the training, they deeply felt the convenience of this system.
For example, if this batch of goods needs to be transported from Jinbei Road to Tongchuan Road, in the past, the escort would have to follow the goods all the way and cross two roads.
However, if this system is used, it is not necessary, because there must be a logistics point in the middle, and the logistics point will transfer to the next logistics point according to the above address, which is much more convenient and faster.
After the training, Zhao’s Escort Agency was officially renamed Da’an Logistics.
Zhao Chun received not only training in logistics knowledge, but also the very torturous smiling service. Not only smiling service, but also slogans had to be recited.
The first one to arrive was a wealthy lady, who brought several maids with her and had already packed her things.
Her daughter was studying at a university in Anjing, and she was always worried that her daughter didn't have enough clothes to wear, so she would send someone or go there herself every now and then to bring her something.
The trouble of delivering this item was beyond her imagination. The paperwork required to go to Anjing was really complicated.
It was only after hearing Bai Zhi’s publicity that day that she thought of giving Da’an Logistics a try.
Zhao Chun immediately went up to greet her warmly, "Madam, are you sending something?"
The wealthy lady nodded. "I heard Bai Zhi advertise that this thing can be delivered directly to the recipient?"
Zhao Chun has now been trained and is a qualified deliveryman. He smiled and said, "There are logistics points in Anjing City. As long as you write the contact person and address correctly, it can be delivered."
The wealthy lady nodded. "I'll send you to Anjing University."
"It's even more convenient to deliver it to the University Hall. There's a logistics point right at the entrance to the University Hall."
Daan Logistics charges for shipping based on the item, distance, and weight. Since the wealthy lady was just trying it out, the clothes she sent weren't very heavy, costing less than thirty wen.
It’s so cheap that even rich ladies are shocked.
She sent someone to deliver it, and the daily meal expenses were more than thirty cents.
Zhao Chun asked the rich lady to write down the delivery address and recipient's name on three sheets of paper, and then signed his own name.
This copy should be attached to the package, one copy will be kept by Zhao Chun, and the other copy will be kept by the rich lady.
"At this distance, it will arrive in about six days. You can come and check after seven days."
The wealthy lady was very satisfied. "If they can really deliver, then Da'an Logistics is incredibly convenient. In that case, maybe we can ask you to ship the goods as well."
"Of course you can. Shipping is a different price and will be more expensive."
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