The Qing Post Office has recently moved from the General Taxation Department to Chongwenmen Street, which is now south of Beijing Railway Station.
It was 5 miles from Tongwen Hall, so Ding Haoliang went out and hailed two rickshaws.
Rickshaws are called rickshaws in Shanghai because they are usually painted in yellow.
In Beijing and other places, because it was passed over from Japan, it is called Dongyangqi, or Yangqi for short.
Li Yu and Ding Haoliang each got into one, and the man pulling the cart for Li Yu was a young man in his early 20s. Although he was not tall, he looked very strong.
Naturally, it was impossible for them to go hand in hand. There was a distance of more than ten meters between the two cars, one behind the other. The person pulling the car for Ding Hailiang was obviously an experienced hand. He was pulling the car very steadily and was familiar with the road. He was running in front.
The driver Li Yu was sitting on obviously staggered a lot. Although he was very strong, his speed was not even at all and he sat up a bit. It was as if Ding Haoliang was sitting in a high-end Mercedes-Benz car, while Li Yu was sitting in a suspension vehicle.
Wuling Hongguang Zhong.
When the wheel rolled over a stone, Li Yu's buttocks were almost off his seat and he was hit hard. The coachman turned around and said sheepishly: "I'm sorry, boss, please forgive me!"
Li Yu didn't mean to blame. After all, it was the people at the bottom who were earning hard money, so he said: "It's okay, just drive slowly, oh no, just run slowly."
The coachman said: "Boss, please be patient! I have only been driving for a few days."
Li Yu had nothing to do and chatted with him: "Looking at your accent, you are not from Beijing."
"The boss has good hearing. I come from Zhangjiakou."
Unexpectedly, he met another Beipiao. Li Yu asked: "Why don't you stay at home and come to the capital?"
The coachman said: "My brother said that you can make more money in the city and it is lighter than in the countryside. My brother was the one pulling the carriage for the foreigners." The coachman said as he ran. Seeing that his breathing was very stable, he must be in good physical condition.
.
Li Yu was surprised: "Is this work easy?"
"That's right! Going to the fields to do farm work is much more tiring than pulling a cart!"
Li Yu had no idea about pulling carts or growing crops, so he continued to ask: "How much money can you make in a day pulling carts?"
"I don't earn much now, but my brother earns a lot. He can earn more than 200 yuan a day! Normally, he earns 150 or 60 yuan." The coachman was quite honest and said whatever he wanted.
Li Yu did a mental calculation and found that there were more than 4,500 Wen per month. According to the silver-to-copper ratio at that time, which was almost 1:1,500, it was almost 3 taels of silver.
Li Yu said: "It's not bad. Now I can earn 3 taels of silver a month, which is quite a lot."
The coachman grinned, looked back at Li Yu, and said: "The boss has a clean face and looks like a scholar. You don't know that coolies like us have to pay 50 Wen to the car dealer every day."
Apart from food and sleep, there is very little money left.”
The driver below broke his leg due to running away, but the car dealer could earn 1 tael of silver per month from just one car. He was really collecting money while lying down.
Li Yu thought of Lao She's "Camel Xiangzi". Xiangzi was a rickshaw driver, and his biggest dream was to have a rickshaw of his own. He was diligent and could pull the rickshaw according to his duty, but the chaotic era only gave him the most tragic fate.
ending.
Li Yu sighed unconsciously, the late Qing Dynasty was really a worse era.
In about half an hour, the two cars arrived at the entrance of the Qing Post Office. Li Yu was already shaken so much that he almost vomited out his overnight meal, but he still managed to get out of the car pretending to be fine.
Ding Haoliang took out a small bunch of money from his pocket: "This is 100 Wen, 60 Wen is travel expenses, and the rest is kept as a tip."
The two coachmen were very grateful. They liked the foreigners very much because they often gave tips. 30 cents was a big job in the first place. With the tips, the two of them made a day's worth of money in one go.
It's all a net profit.
Ding Hailiang was not short of money at all, and it was common for him to tip when he lived in the United States, so he didn't take it seriously. Before the two coachmen finished singing their thanks, they called Li Yu into the post office.
This can be said to be the headquarters of the Qing Post Office. It is quite spacious inside. Four or five clerks are sorting letters on the long counter. Behind them are several large cupboards with many smaller cupboards and doors.
There are labels with place names such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan and so on.
A postman at the post office knew Ding Yuliang and came over to greet him: "Mr. Ding, are you here to send another letter?"
Ding Haoliang put the stack of manuscript papers on the counter: "Yes, Mr. Cui, I want to send a registered letter to Shanghai."
Li Yu had not heard the word "registered mail" for a long time. After all, the express delivery industry was too developed in his era.
If you really receive a registered letter one day, you will definitely be very scared, because it is basically nothing good: registered mail is still used nowadays, either with a court summons or a lawyer's letter warning, or it is sent from the high walls of the prison.
Postman Cui skillfully weighed the manuscript paper, and then said: "Teacher Ding, you see, one or two cents is heavy, so a 10-cent stamp needs to be affixed."
Ding Haoliang took out 10 silver dollars and put them on the table.
Postman Cui immediately said: "Mr. Ding, a 10-cent stamp is enough."
Ding Haoliang said: "Of course I know, but after this letter arrives in Shanghai, it needs to be forwarded to London by the British Letters Bureau."
The current Daqing Post Office has not joined the Universal Postal Union and only handles domestic business. If you send letters abroad, you need to forward them to these foreign post offices, which is also called "customer mail".
As early as 1861, the United Kingdom built a postal building on the bank of the Suzhou River in Shanghai, the British Post Office, or the British Letters Office. Since letters are sent to London, there will definitely be fewer transit times if they are sent by them.
The fee of 10 silver dollars is very high, equivalent to 7 taels of silver. As a comparison, nowadays it costs about five or six yuan to send a letter from Shanghai to the UK. Of course, it is quite expensive to send a slightly larger package.
At this moment, Li Yu didn't have enough money to even send a cross-border mail! Fortunately, Ding Haoliang provided the money.
Postman Cui followed the regulations and flipped through the manuscript. After making sure that there were no other items, he put it in the postal envelope and affixed a small yellow stamp with the words "One dime of foreign silver" written on it and below.
"10 cents" written in English.
The Qing Post Office was established under the leadership of Hurd, and many things were learned from England. Even the rates were set according to foreign money.
——Anyway, the Qing government has lost enough sovereignty, and it no longer needs such small details.
Li Yu was somewhat attracted by this set of stamps, and planned to buy a few sets when he had the opportunity, because this was the most likely thing that he could buy with the little money he had, which would greatly appreciate in value.
Even though each face value is only a few cents, this set of stamps is a limited edition of Cixi's 60th Birthday small print revalued stamps in 1897. There are 1 cent, 2 cents, 4 cents, 5 cents, 8 cents, 10 cents, 30 cents, etc.
face value.
Limited edition!
If you can collect a set, it can be sold for dozens or even millions more than 100 years later. The appreciation space of millions of times is still very considerable!