Chapter 1449 - 1357: Post Station (Part 3)

Mu Hetar received Huizhen’s telegram and finally believed that this beeping device could truly communicate over great distances.

Even with his training, he couldn’t help but change his expression slightly. How terrifying is this?

This means that even when they knew nothing about Hua Country, they could use this device to see clearly. Information that would take one or two months, or even longer, to relay could now be known instantly.

Mu Hetar could no longer sit still and immediately returned to the Royal City to report.

Wu Liang watched him leave. Many left with Mu Hetar as well, feeling alarmed and awed, accepting our embrace.

Our Majesty has a broad heart, wanting the wandering travelers to be safe and prosperous, and wishing the foreigners to experience the beauty of Huaxia.

Building post stations requires ensuring smooth road traffic, so the primary task is to ensure road safety.

This prevents traveling merchants from being randomly robbed and murdered by bandits. This way, merchants can trade with confidence, and travelers can journey outward with courage.

Through years of bandit suppression, larger scale bandits in the Central Plains have been eradicated; no bandit gang exceeds twenty people.

A few lawless individuals banding together for robbery is unstoppable.

After larger bandit nests were eliminated, local security was strengthened, and coupled with various court policies benefiting the people, except for a few extremely wicked individuals who prefer to reap without sowing, merchants like to travel in groups and have the capability to fight off these small bandits.

For a time, trade in Hua Country flourished, with north and south connected. Many merchants traveled north or south, and nobility who had fled to the south due to wars decades ago, with increased north-south exchanges, no longer yearned to return home, but started to gradually accept southern customs and settled down there.

The new technologies and knowledge they brought spurred rapid development in agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce in the south.

The new generation born after the migration to the south are now nearly fifteen years old, with those born in the founding year of Hua Country being eight years old. They lived in the south from a young age, received education from their northern family traditions, and later attended schools to receive new education from the court.

They are the new generation, just like Wu Liang and others who graduated from such schools, with thoughts diverging slightly from their ancestors.

Now, the place where bandits are most severe is this Silk Road.

This is the main reason for the existence of our post stations, to ensure the safety of Hua Country merchants and travelers.

Yu Liang’s reactions were all observed by Yuan Li, who reviewed Wu Liang’s resume repeatedly and finally said to his subordinate, "Recruit this person."

The subordinate followed orders and personally traveled to the Western Regions.

Although the Investigation Department is equivalent in rank to the six ministries, it is directly subordinate to His Majesty and, due to its special functions, can recruit officials superior to the six ministries.

Officers of the Investigation Department are both overt and covert. Those like Yuan Li who can openly reveal their identity belong to the overt ones. There’s another kind, who need to remain hidden, holding other positions, potentially shifting from covert to overt or possibly remaining hidden for life, until old age, death, and their records are revealed, allowing the world to see their achievements.

Yuan Li believed Wu Liang had a talent for covert investigations, being only a Posthouse Minister was a waste of talent.

Wu Liang is an ambitious person, and being able to work covertly at the Investigation Department meant he had an additional path for advancement, which naturally pleased him.

He immediately agreed to join, and from then on, his reports would be split in two: one sent to his direct superior in the Western Army, and the other to the Investigation Department in Luoyang.

With the establishment of the post stations, the Western Qiang fully submitted to the court, and together with the Western Army and Xiliang escorting, merchants and travelers increased significantly along the Silk Road.

With camel bells ringing, a large amount of Western Region gems, spices, copper coins, and silver coins flowed into the Central Plains.

Silk, cotton cloth, glassware, and porcelain from the Central Plains also flowed massively into the Western Regions. The royal families, always wary of Hua Country, upon realizing Zhao Hanzhang was genuinely only protecting merchants and travelers and not harassing them after bandits subsided anymore.

The royal families were the first to enjoy the exquisite silk and porcelain from Hua Country. Due to active trade, their people’s incomes increased, leading to an increase in their tax revenue as well.

Finally, they were willing to open their hearts a little to observe Zhao Hanzhang’s embrace.

The post station, as the first communication step, reported this change, prompting Zhao Hanzhang to officially dispatch a diplomatic mission again, once more appointing Zhao Xin as the envoy and Zhang Shi as the deputy envoy to the Western Regions.

This time, the mission went smoothly. They visited twelve countries in two months, received as esteemed guests at every stop.

The journey was safe, with daily radio reports to Luoyang assuring their safety.

The radio lost to robbery during the last mission to the Western Regions was returned.

The Western countries now understood that the radio could communicate over long distances, yet they couldn’t use it. To seize it, they fought several battles, inadvertently destroying a small nation in the process.

Eventually, several countries gathered to have craftsmen dismantle it for study, but not only did they fail to understand it, they couldn’t reassemble it.

The radio became a heap of scrap metal. This time, the diplomatic mission came, and the nation that captured Zhao Xin and Zhang Shi as slaves for half a year returned it to show goodwill.

Zhao Xin, pretending not to notice it had become scrap, embraced it with gratitude, thanking the King for returning it.

The King, somewhat embarrassed, quickly said, "It was merely due to improper storage by subordinates that it broke."

Zhao Xin replied it was of no importance, the King’s intention mattered most.

Hearing this, the King immediately expressed interest in this device capable of long-distance communication, inquiring how it transmitted information.

Zhao Xin lowered his gaze in thought for a moment, then raised his eyes, smiling, "This was made by our Majesty’s Imperial Consort, using the universe to transmit messages, a divine sound beyond my understanding. However, it’s taught at the Imperial College. If the King seeks knowledge, why not send someone wise to learn at the Imperial College?"

The King’s eyes brightened, sitting up straight, eagerly asking, "Foreigners can study too?"

Zhao Xin smiled, "His Majesty has a generous heart, viewing the world’s people as his children. If the King sincerely seeks knowledge, our Majesty will not refuse."

The King was moved, and every country visited by Zhao Xin shared this sentiment.

So even before Zhao Xin finished visiting all Western countries, some had already submitted letters to Hua Country, intending to send students to study in Luoyang.

Zhao Hanzhang gladly agreed.

The King was unaware that Zhao Xin carried several radios, and upon arriving at Qiuci, he gifted one to the King of Qiuci, thanking him for agreeing to establish the Hua Country post station in Qiuci.

This was a national gift; among the dozens of countries along the Silk Road, only five countries could receive this gift.