Xianxia version of Water Margin

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After destroying Fang La and the Yongle Dynasty, Jiang Hongfei and the Yuan Empire completed the unification. As soon as Jiang Hongfei and the Yuan Empire completed the unification, Jiang Hongfei sent people to send this great news back to Yuan Dadu, and at the same time sent people to various regions of the Yuan Empire.

Since the Liangshan period, Jiang Hongfei has attached importance to the development of science and technology, transportation, and information transmission.

As early as when Jiang Hongfei had just established a foothold in Liangshan, Jiang Hongfei sent Zhu Gui to establish a hotel intelligence system. Later, a large number of hotels and inns were built. Wherever the Yuan army attacked, the hotels and inns of the Yuan Empire were built there. Even before the Yuan army arrived, the hotels and inns of the Yuan Empire had already been built to collect intelligence.

In fact, these hotels and inns not only served the military intelligence agencies of the Yuan Empire, but later developed to be related to the economy and people's livelihood of the Yuan Empire.

No one knows this better than Jiang Hongfei, who has a vision that exceeds this era by a thousand years.

Therefore, under the auspices of Jiang Hongfei, the hotel intelligence system of the Yuan Empire gradually evolved into the postal system of the Yuan Empire.

After so many years of development, the postal system of the Yuan Empire has become very advanced.

Let's put it this way, the total number of post houses, post stations, and post booths across the Yuan Empire is as high as nearly 15,600, and the number of people specializing in post work exceeds one million, of which there are more than 100,000 post soldiers alone.

Moreover, this does not count the large number of spies mixed in with the post staff.

Specifically, the transportation lines of the Yuan Empire are centered on the four capitals of the Yuan Dynasty, radiating in all directions and reaching the border areas. There is roughly one post house every thirty miles, one post station every ten miles, and one post booth every five miles, which is nearly ten times that of the Tang Dynasty during the most prosperous period of the post station.

It is worth mentioning that, unlike the post stations of the previous dynasties, the post houses, post stations, and post pavilions of the Yuan Empire were also purely official, but unlike the post stations of the previous dynasties, they were not only used to convey government orders and military information, and could not be used for civilian communications. The postal system of the Yuan Empire was much more developed and flexible.

First of all, the postal system of the Yuan Empire could not only deliver letters for civilians, but also mail packages for civilians.

Of course, whether it was delivering letters for civilians or mailing packages for civilians, it was not free.

On the contrary, due to the high transportation costs of this era, if civilians wanted to use the postal system of the Yuan Empire to send letters, the price was very high. If they used the postal system of the Yuan Empire to mail packages, the price would be even higher (the specific fee would be determined according to its weight, volume and price).

In addition, all post houses, post stations, and post pavilions must set aside a part as inns, that is, to provide food and rest places for people traveling (both officials and civilians).

——Officials on official business are free. Others pay for themselves, and the price is relatively high (you can refer to the service area of ​​Jiang Hongfei's previous life).

Let's put it this way. The postal system advocated by Jiang Hongfei is an official self-operated mechanism that combines many service projects such as post offices, logistics, and chain hotels.

Needless to say, the main purpose of the postal system of the Yuan Empire is to convey government orders and military intelligence for the court, to gather intelligence, to assist the Feinu transmission network in transmitting messages, and to facilitate the travel of officials of the Yuan Empire. Such a system must be under the control of the Yuan Dynasty.

As for self-operation, that is, the income of all post houses, post stations, and post pavilions is divided into 50% and 50% with the Yuan Dynasty court.

In other words, although the basic salary of the personnel engaged in postal affairs is paid by the court, most of their income depends on the share of the profits they get from operating the post houses, post stations, and post pavilions themselves.

In this way, the personnel engaged in postal affairs of post houses, post stations, and post pavilions that are well managed will naturally earn more, while those post houses, post stations, and post pavilions that are poorly managed will have their management personnel replaced by the Ministry of Personnel.

Since post houses, post stations and post pavilions became the money bags of the people engaged in post work, they naturally had to manage them carefully.

Some well-developed post houses, post stations and post pavilions provided seasonal vegetables, fresh fish and meat, fine wine and good services to the people who came and went without being taught by others, and sent post soldiers to maintain public order and escort important items.

Otherwise, the people passing by could walk five or ten miles to choose the next post house, post station or post pavilion to rest.

Due to the competitiveness and the perfect and fair reward mechanism, the postal system of the Yuan Empire is currently developing very well.

And because the Yuan Empire has this very well-developed postal system, it has greatly increased the convenience of personnel flow in the Yuan Empire, thereby promoting the development of commerce.

In addition, this also created a large number of jobs for the Yuan Empire.

It can be said that the Yuan Empire was able to easily digest the millions of surrendered soldiers of the Zhao Song Dynasty and the even larger number of righteous armies and bandits, and the postal system of the Yuan Empire made a great contribution.

The key point is that after doing this, the Yuan Dynasty not only does not need to invest money in the postal system, but on the contrary, the postal system can provide a lot of fiscal revenue to the Yuan Dynasty every year.

The key point is that due to the highly developed postal system of the Yuan Empire, the Yuan Dynasty's political orders are smooth and the information is transmitted very quickly.

In short, the postal system of the Yuan Empire is divided into three types: land post, water post, and waterway combined.

The Yuan Dynasty court had clear regulations on the itinerary of the post. A fast post horse traveled twelve posts a day, which was 180 miles. If it was faster, it had to travel 300 miles a day, and the fastest was required to travel 500 miles a day. A person on foot had to travel 50 miles a day. When sailing upstream, it had to travel 40 miles on the river, 50 miles on the river, and 60 miles on other days. When sailing downstream, it was stipulated that it had to travel 100 to 150 miles.

By the way, the Yuan Empire is now preparing to provide bicycles for various post houses, stations, and post booths, which will definitely further increase the speed of the post.

At present, the fastest express delivery in the Yuan Empire is that the post horse has a copper bell tied to it. When running on the road, it rings the bell during the day and lights a fire at night. It is not responsible for killing people. Each post house, station, and post booth will change the fastest and best spirit horse, and each post house will change a person, regardless of wind or rain, day and night.

The news of the elimination of Fang La, the elimination of the Yongle Dynasty, and the completion of the unification of the Yuan Empire must naturally be transmitted back to Yuan Dadu and various regions of the Yuan Empire in the fastest way.

In just three days, the postman who delivered the victory report arrived at Yuan Dadu from Nanjing. He carried a bright red flag on his back. As soon as he entered Yuan Dadu, he whipped his horse and rushed to the palace, shouting loudly: "Great victory in Qingxi, Fang La was captured, and our great Yuan Dynasty is unified!"

It can be seen that the postman who reported the victory was a little too excited, and then he improvised a few words on the spot.

As a result, the people of Yuan Dadu were all shocked when they heard what the postman shouted!

Yes.

Everyone thought that Fang La, a bandit who only occupied a small area in western Zhejiang, could not resist Jiang Hongfei's personal expedition, and the Great Yuan Empire would definitely be able to achieve great unification.

But it was completely different from what this incident really happened.

When this earth-shaking victory news passed through the noisy streets and hit every long-awaited heart, it was not only a declaration of victory, but also aroused layers of ripples, causing extraordinary waves on the calm lake surface.

People stopped and whispered to each other, their eyes flashing with disbelief, as if this sudden good news was a sudden and warm spring light in winter.

"Fang La was captured?" An old man repeated tremblingly, tapping the stone road with his cane, each time as if to confirm that this was not a dream.

"Thinking back then, Fang La started an uprising with great momentum, and the land of western Zhejiang was in flames. Who would have thought that he would be a flash in the pan after all, and the world would belong to your majesty after all." His words expressed both the emotion of the unpredictable situation and the awe of the Yuan army.

In the tavern, the guests who were originally whispering suddenly became quiet, leaving only the crisp sound of wine jugs colliding.

The news spread like wildfire, quickly igniting everyone's enthusiasm.

Some people slammed their hands and stood up, praising Jiang Hongfei's wisdom and bravery, his full martial virtue, and finally pacifying the four directions, uniting the world, and quelling the war; some people worried that deeper contradictions and conflicts might not be quelled overnight; some people silently raised their glasses and prayed for the soldiers who fought bloody battles on the battlefield.

The air was filled with an indescribable excitement and pride, as if every inch of the Yuan Empire was breathing and celebrating together at this moment.

But under this wave of celebration, several different voices quietly emerged.

Some people worried whether this victory meant long-term peace, or was it just a prelude to a bigger storm?

Some people began to reflect that war brought not only glory, but also the brokenness and sorrow of countless families.

Although these voices were weak, they were like the brightest stars in the night sky, reminding people that while celebrating the victory, they should not forget the price they paid for it.

As night fell, the lights of Yuan Dadu gradually lit up, decorating this world's largest international metropolis like a poem and a painting.

People gathered at home or strolled on the streets, sharing this hard-won joy.

And the postman who reported the victory had long disappeared in the crowd, entered the inner city, then the imperial city, and finally entered the palace.

But his voice, like a horn that traveled through time and space, echoed in the hearts of every citizen of the Yuan Dynasty.

Hearing that Jiang Hongfei had wiped out Fang La and completed the great unification, the ministers in the Yuan Dynasty court were even more excited!

Today, although the territory of the Yuan Empire cannot be compared with the peak period of the Han and Tang Dynasties, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Yuan Empire has recovered all the territories inherent to the Han people and completed the great unification.

——With the Great Wall as the boundary, except for a small piece of territory still occupied by the Western Xia, Jiang Hongfei has recovered all the territories when Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms.

Moreover, don't forget that Jiang Hongfei has not yet recovered the small piece of territory occupied by Xixia, but Jiang Hongfei has incorporated Ryukyu, Mindi, and Japan into the territory of the Yuan Empire.

In terms of land area, the Yuan Empire is already ranked among the top three of the unified dynasties.

How can the officials of the Yuan Empire not be excited to be able to serve in such a unified dynasty?

Wang Lun, Chen Ke and other civil and military officials asked Jiang Xiu, the regent, to grant a banquet to celebrate the unification.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Xiu refused.

Jiang Xiu's reason was that now that the country is unified, Jiang Hongfei will soon return to Beijing in triumph, and everything will be decided by Jiang Hongfei when he comes back.

Some people secretly praised Jiang Xiu for being watertight.

Some people speculated that Jiang Xiu should be reluctant to spend this money.

However, more people realized that Jiang Hongfei, who had been on the expedition for almost two years, was coming back soon, and they had to be prepared to welcome the emperor.

Soon, the countries of Jin and Xia also learned that Jiang Hongfei had completed the great unification, and their top leaders realized that something was wrong.

So the two countries immediately sent envoys to the Yuan Empire to seek peace.

The Jin envoy said on behalf of the Jin Kingdom that the Yuan and Jin countries could sign a treaty similar to the "Chanyuan Alliance" like the Song and Liao countries.

The Jin envoy also said that as long as the Yuan Empire is willing to return Wanyan Zongwang, Wanyan Jiemu and other royal and clan members of the Jin Kingdom, or the Yuan Empire rewards the Jin Kingdom with some annual tributes like the Zhao Song Dynasty rewarded the Liao Dynasty, the Jin Kingdom will immediately withdraw its troops.

The Xia envoy asked for marriage on behalf of the Western Xia Empire, hoping that Jiang Hongfei could marry a daughter to their Western Xia as the queen, intending to eliminate the estrangement between the two countries through marriage, and to consolidate the relationship between the Yuan and Xia countries through marriage.

After listening to the peace requests of the Jin and Xia envoys, the ministers of the Yuan Empire were all very happy!

The reason why these ministers of the Yuan Empire were so happy:

First, the fact that Jin and Xia expressed their opinions in this way means that they are already afraid and will not invade the Yuan Empire again in the short term. In other words, the Yuan Empire has not only eliminated internal worries and completed the great unification, but also temporarily stabilized external threats and can rest and recuperate.

Second, the peace terms proposed by Jin and Xia this time are quite sincere.

Some people may say, is this sincere? Jin wants annual tribute and Xixia wants princesses. Isn't this a shame?

It's really not like that.

It's not difficult to see it with a calm analysis.

With the powerful national strength of the Yuan Empire with hundreds of millions of fiscal revenues every year, it is too cost-effective to reward Jin with hundreds of thousands of annual tributes every year in exchange for permanent peace between the two countries.

At least many ministers think so.

As for Jiang Hongfei marrying a daughter to Li Qianshun as queen, this is even more a good thing.

First of all, Jiang Hongfei has hundreds of daughters, and marrying one to Li Qianshun is nothing.

Moreover, don't forget that Li Qianshun's previous queen, Yelu Nanxian, was the daughter of Yelu Yanxi (actually a daughter of the Liao royal family). As a result, Xixia became a vassal state of the Liao Dynasty and followed the Liao Dynasty's lead in everything.

The key is that Jiang Hongfei may not really marry a daughter to Li Qianshun. He can just find a palace maid to marry as a daughter to Li Qianshun.

In short, the important thing is not to marry a daughter. Neither the Yuan Empire nor Xixia will pay attention to this. What both sides care about is that after this title, the Yuan Empire and Xixia will become father-in-law and son-in-law countries.

To put it another way, even if Jiang Hongfei has other ideas, such as unifying Xixia and reopening the Silk Road on land, or unifying the grasslands to solve the future troubles once and for all, he should first agree to the peace requests of Jin and Xia to stabilize these two evil neighbors, and let the soldiers and civilians of the Yuan Empire rest and recuperate for a period of time, and recover some vitality, and then tear up the treaty when the Yuan Empire is ready in the future.

Of course, Jiang Xiu and the ministers of the Yuan Empire did not dare to make any decisions on how to deal with the peace talks between Jin and Xia. Everything had to wait until Jiang Hongfei came back to make the decision...

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