Chapter 1447 - 1355: Post Station (Part 1)

In May of the eighth year of Yuanzhen, Zhao Hanzhang gave birth to her second son, and the whole nation celebrated. That year, the court finally opened up the Silk Road, the post station construction in Xiliang was completed, and it was linked to the post station system of the Central Plains.

Hua Country’s post stations were built as far as Qiuci, the forward station for Wusun.

Wu Liang was a native of Jizhou Anping Country. He was a student of the Jizhou Anping Country county academy. At seventeen, he clearly knew that he couldn’t get into the prefectural academy, much less the Imperial College, let alone the national examinations.

The county exam, however, he could at least give a try.

But he was not content with that. He had an elder brother who joined the army in the second year of Jianxing, so through his brother he tested into the army.

That’s right, the Zhao Family Army—no, now it was no longer the Zhao Family Army, but Hua Country’s army. Because its management was strict and it did not so much as pluck a hair from the common people, it was much loved by the populace, and the treatment the court gave the army was the best in all dynasties. As a result, the people no longer complained bitterly about conscription but instead competed to enlist.

Wu Liang wasn’t qualified for the national exam, and the county exam could only make him a minor clerk, so he planned to gamble it all in the army.

In his years of study, his martial classes had all been graded excellent, and his archery was the best.

So he planned to fight for military merit on the battlefield.

He simply hadn’t expected that after two years of service he had only taken part in three bandit-suppression operations and one Western Regions campaign, and had merely risen from an ordinary soldier to a squad leader.

This time he was reassigned to Qiuci to build the Qiuci post station.

Thanks to the court’s unremitting efforts, the various Western Regions states along the Silk Road had finally agreed to let Hua Country establish Hua Country post stations along the route, to collect and deliver letters for merchants far from home, pass on information, and also provide a certain amount of armed protection for Hua Country’s merchants.

Wu Liang’s little squad was requisitioned as post soldiers for the Qiuci post station, and Wu Liang became the Posthouse Minister.

The post station of Qiuci sat on the edge of an oasis, occupying a very large area. Houses of loess earth were built in a ring; up close they were three rows joined together, from a distance they formed a circle that protected the area in the middle.

As soon as Wu Liang and his men arrived, the construction team responsible for building the post station immediately handed things over to them and hurried to leave.

Wu Liang tried to keep them, saying, "Why not stay and have a meal with us?"

The foreman sighed. "To meet old acquaintances in a foreign land, of course we’d like to. But we’ve also taken on the construction for the Qiuci Palace, and we can’t afford to waste any time."

Wu Liang’s gaze flickered slightly as he asked, "I’ve long heard you were capable, but I didn’t expect you to be this capable, able to land the Qiuci Palace construction."

The foreman said, with pride yet modesty, "Oh, it’s nothing, really. We just rely on Your Majesty’s prestige to make a living out here."

Wu Liang gave the foreman some things they had brought from the Central Plains, using that as a pretext to delay their departure.

The soldiers who had already inspected the buildings took the chance to ask the construction crew a lot of questions, and then ran back to whisper to Wu Liang, "What they took on isn’t the palace construction, but one corner of a separate palace belonging to the King of Qiuci."

That was good enough. Wu Liang decided to cultivate a good relationship with him. Ideally, he could get his hands on a map of the separate palace—who knew whether it might come in handy someday?

Wu Liang escorted them five li out before coming back to size up their camp—oh, no, their post station.

This so-called post station, besides collecting and delivering letters and parcels, also had the duties of receiving Hua Country officials and foreign envoys, as well as scouting military intelligence and escorting classified information;

And the post stations established by Zhao Hanzhang, in addition to the above functions, also had the duties of protecting Hua Country’s merchants and conducting temporary external diplomacy—tantamount to serving as a government office.

So of these three rows of buildings, only one row was living quarters for them; the remaining two rows were all office space. The front three rooms of one row were, respectively: one room in charge of lodging reception at the post station, one in charge of collecting and sending letters and parcels, and one for public affairs.

For example, if someone came to file a report saying they were citizens of Hua Country and had run into bandits, and their money and goods had been robbed, then they would have to go out and wipe out the bandits and take the money and goods back.

Of course, they only had a hundred men, so they had to know their limits.

But that was fine; two hundred li to the east and northeast there were also post stations, and the stations had means of communication with one another—they could cooperate.

The second row consisted entirely of guest rooms, kitchens, bathhouses, and so on.

Wu Liang checked every room, then went over to look at Water Source Lake. Once he was sure there was no problem, he ordered the generator taken out and installed in the central room of the third row, and then had the wires run to Room A in the first row, that is, the room designated for collection and dispatch.

There was a radio set there.

Every night there would be three men on duty in the radio room, and next door were the remaining seventeen men of their centurion.

Wu Liang didn’t have many telegraph operators; in each centurion only one man knew how, so they used a rotational system for night duty—one centurion per day.

But he felt that this wouldn’t do; they still didn’t have enough people. So he decided that once they had settled in, the whole squad would study. Whether they could learn it or not, they all had to attend class—anyone he could train up was a gain.

The post station started operating at high speed.

He hung up the sign, and the centurion of the Third Centurion pulled out firecrackers he’d brought from the Central Plains and set them off with a crackling burst.

Wu Liang was a bit bewildered and asked, "You brought that on a long journey?"

The centurion of the Third Centurion chuckled, "I’d already thought about it before we set out. When the post station opened, we had to set off a string of firecrackers—brings prosperity, drives away evil, and ensures safety. They don’t have this stuff in the Western Regions, so I brought my own."

Wu Liang had nothing to say, and was actually a bit pleased.

But the sound of the firecrackers here scared the Qiuci people who’d been watching them.

Not until the next day did anyone cautiously come over to investigate.

The post station, besides receiving officials, also received ordinary merchants, though they had to pay.

It was Wu Liang’s first time doing business, and it was the first time for his soldiers as well.

But that was fine—they had been trained before coming. So when a string of coins was thrown down in front of him, Wu Liang tugged hard at the corners of his mouth to show a smile. "Honored guest, please come inside. Will you be taking an upper room or a middle room?"

The customer was startled by his cruel-looking smile; the pleasure of throwing money at people vanished in an instant, and he stammered for a moment. "I–I’ll take an upper room."

Wu Liang waved his hand and had a soldier lead the way.

In the lodging area of the post station, the soldiers didn’t wear uniforms but identical common clothes. This was to soften the feel of a military camp and give guests a sense of being warmly welcomed.

This too had been part of their pre-deployment training.

The soldiers bared their teeth in a grin, revealing exactly eight teeth in neat unison—not more, definitely not less—and smiling all the way as they escorted the guest to his room,

The guest: ...

Hua Country’s post stations were a bit terrifying—was this information really something he had to ferret out?

Feeling uncomfortable all over, the guest spent a night at the post station, enduring their "meticulous and thorough" service. The next day he hurriedly checked out, but didn’t leave. Instead, he probed, "If I want to send a letter to Luoyang, how long will it take?"

A soldier said, "Is it urgent? If you’re in a hurry, honored guest, you can pay a bit more, and the recipient can get it the same day."

The guest gave an awkward smile. "You really love to joke. I’m serious—I really have a friend in Luoyang and want to send him a letter."

The soldier said, "Honored guest, I’m serious too, not joking. It really can arrive within a day, as long as your address is correct."

The guest’s eyes went wide, and then he followed the soldier to the collection room, where he saw the radio set.