Many times, when a problem is very complex, the best way is actually to throw money.
Because using money really works.
Of course, money cannot be thrown around.
Those who spend money frivolously are fools, but those who spend money on the right medicine can often achieve miraculous results.
In the Postal Department, Hu Mu is obviously well versed in this.
He had served as a civil servant, resettled refugees, and interacted with laborers on the railway, so he naturally knew... what these people were thinking.
You give them a stable job and a salary that can support themselves, which is enough to make them burst into tears of gratitude.
But tears of gratitude are not enough, because gratitude is just an emotion, and it will fade over time.
The responsibilities of the Postal Department precisely require a stable group of personnel and ensuring that everyone has a certain sense of responsibility and centripetal force.
Otherwise, once the letter or package is lost, your reputation may be greatly damaged.
Especially the loss of packages has a great impact on reputation, but... in this era, the problem of bandits is often a common occurrence.
After all, in this backward era, if a person is interested in making money for a while, if he is greedy for some of the property in the package, he will take it for himself at worst. When he is desperate, he will just go up the mountain and become a bandit.
Once people go up the mountain, where can you find them?
Or, it may be difficult to guard against someone colluding with bandits to rob these packages.
Therefore, the absolute loyalty of these people must be ensured.
And loyalty, in addition to the gratitude gained at the beginning, is to bind everyone together, so that everyone will be prosperous and everyone will suffer.
The annual reward is a measure and means.
Encouraging the children of postmen to enroll in school is also a means.
In essence, it is to give them hope. When people have hope, they will naturally cherish everything they enjoy now and put away those bad thoughts that may be caused by a single thought.
It costs money, but it also needs to be worthwhile, so... what Hu Mu needs to do next is to design a complicated top-level salary system.
This was also inspired by Zhang Anshi. Sometimes, Hu Mu had to admire the resourcefulness of His Highness the King of Song. A reminder from him made him suddenly enlightened.
A seniority system must be designed. The longer they stay in the Postal Department, the more generous their remuneration will be. Only then will all the postmen be able to settle down and be willing to serve the Postal Department for the rest of their lives, while ensuring the absolute safety of letters and packages.
For the time being, he has roughly sorted out the main business of the Postal Department in the future.
The first is underwriting newspapers and the second is letters and parcels.
Of course, they may also have some bank-like responsibilities.
The reason why I took over the responsibility of the bank was not because I wanted to steal the bank's business.
In fact, almost 99% of United Bank's business is conducted in some important cities and overseas vassals.
This is not because the United Bank does not want to expand its business, but in fact... the vast majority of farmers in the world, and even ordinary craftsmen, do not need a bank at all. An ordinary small village thousands of miles away, where
People like United Bank cannot have any relationship with United Bank no matter how much it promotes it.
The advantage of the Postal Service is that it can penetrate deeply into many villages. Once it obtains credit, it becomes possible to entrust money and materials.
In view of the particularity of the Postal Service, that is... all postmen do not actually need to have any special talents. Their essence is actually just running errands.
But at the same time, precisely because they may have a lot of wealth in their hands at any time, then... they must ensure their identity as a good family member, and it is best if their social relations are extremely stable, and their ancestors have no history of committing crimes for several generations.
, and I have never made friends with any bad people.
To a certain extent, this latter can actually be regarded as a kind of talent. It is not easy for people to be honest all their lives. It is even more difficult for generations of ancestors to be honest. What's more, this involves the world of the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty.
.
The regulations were promulgated one after another after being agreed upon by the Post Office.
It causes an uproar every time.
Among the scholars, there were certainly many people who scolded him, and naturally there were comments about wasting public funds.
But at the same time, recruitment over there is booming.
Especially clerks, because they involve calculations and some official documents, all post offices, including provincial post offices, need a large number of clerks to handle many complex official affairs. Surprisingly... when applying, many scholars came forward.
Come apply.
These scholars are not just students who graduated from the Mathematical School or other large schools in Qixia, but there are also many scholars who have the reputation of being scholars.
The status of scholar is actually quite embarrassing. On the one hand, it is difficult for them to continue the imperial examination. With this title, they can be distinguished from ordinary people.
But because they only have fame, the court will not grant them official positions. This makes them often aloof and think that they are superiors, but... they have no way to engage in other productions.
It would be fine if the family had thousands of hectares of fertile land, but at worst, they would have to study for a lifetime.
But if you are from a slightly poorer family, it is obviously not an option in the long run.
Therefore, many people have to use teaching or helping out as a way out, but in fact, it is very bad, because what Confucianism advocates is that gentlemen love money and acquire it in a proper way, and Confucianism attaches great importance to education, so it is not good for teaching.
To dispel any doubts, Confucianism discourages accepting high education fees.
This also leads to the fact that the vast majority of private school teachers are actually very poor. Even if they enter the mansions of high-ranking officials and nobles to teach their students and solve their problems, they basically give them some training based on their wishes.
As for helpers, it's even worse. To put it bluntly, they are just companions, so they have to be diligent to please them so as not to make their master unhappy.
But now everyone is realizing more and more that whether they are railway officials or civil servants in Zhili, they all have a promising future, with hope of promotion and generous salary!
Many people expressed disdain, but secretly regretted it in their hearts. If they had known this, if they could have entered there as officials in the early years, things might have been different now.
It's just... whether it's the Railway Department or the civil servants in Zhili, others have already arrived first. If they go in, not only will they have to start over, but the vacancies in the future... I'm afraid there won't be as many vacancies as before.
Now, the appearance of the Postal Service suddenly made people's hearts flutter.
As a result, in the process of recruiting civil servants, the proportion of scholars who applied for the job actually accounted for 40%.
What's even more speechless is that even Hu Mu was not immune to the impact.
On this day, a civil servant came cautiously, holding a door sticker in his hand, and said: "There is someone outside who hopes to visit Ambassador Hu."
Hu Mu looked down and immediately recognized the owner of the door sticker.
He squinted his eyes, as if he thought of something, and frowned: "Is anyone still outside?"
"yes."
Hu Mu pondered and remained silent for a long time.
This person was also from Jishui County, and he was also a scholar. In fact, his knowledge was pretty good, but he was unlucky enough to remain unknown in Jishui County, the hometown of exam masters.
At first, because this man's family was close to the Hu family, he had gone to the Hu family's clan school for several years and had a good relationship with Hu Mu.
This scholar named Deng Da occasionally wrote letters and interacted with him.
Unexpectedly, this man actually came all the way from his hometown to the capital, hoping to follow his path.
Regarding this former good friend, Hu Mu's face unconsciously became a little warmer when he recalled the little things from the past. After all, after all, he was a classmate, a child, and had the same temperament, but...
He thought for a while and said: "Go tell him. I have received his door sticker. I am busy now and it is inconvenient to see each other. Since he is determined to enter the Postal Department, then..."
Hu Mu paused, seemed to be thinking, and then said: "This person's talent and learning are good, he is smart, and he is steady. According to the rules, a scholar can indeed join the Postal Service directly without being recruited, then... then...
Let him join the Postal Department. Assign him to Pingtan Station as a clerk, and let him pack up early and start his journey as soon as possible."
With that said, Hu Mu put away the door sticker, then withdrew his thoughts and continued to work on the documents with his head down.
After receiving the order, the civil servants left the Post Office. As expected, there were scholars in turbans and Confucian shirts waiting anxiously outside.
The clerk stepped forward and recounted Hu Mu's words with a smile.
When the scholar named Deng Da heard this, he suddenly showed a look of disbelief.
On the one hand, he did not expect that Hu Mu would actually refuse to see him. In his imagination, Hu Mu was not the kind of person who would disregard the righteousness of friends despite his rapid rise to fame.
Now it is obvious that I was wrong.
But when he heard that he was actually being taught to be an official, he was even more shocked, because he thought that with his relationship with Hu Mu, he could at least be transferred to Hu Mu's side.
To be able to find someone in the Postal Department, he must be a clerk in the Railway Department, a postmaster at a local post station, or an official such as the chief registrar of the provincial railway bureau or the clerk.
But who would have thought that Hu Mu would actually let him be an ordinary civil servant.
Deng Da's previously filled with anticipation suddenly sank, and he said, "Where is this Pingtan Station?"
"In the Chief Envoy Department of Fujian." The civil servant replied.
Dengda: "..."
Deng Da was angry. You know, Fujian has a lot of people but little land, and is surrounded by mountains. Deng Da, who comes from the land of fish and rice in Jiangxi, doesn't think that Fujian's Chief Envoy is a good place to go, not to mention... it's still an unknown small post.
, this is to amuse him, Deng Da.
But the clerk said: "Now the Postal Department is short of people everywhere, especially Pingtan Station..."
"I know." Even though he was unhappy, Deng Da didn't show any anger, he just said calmly. He had quite a bit of self-respect. He just felt that Hu Mu was betraying his righteousness by doing this, and he... couldn't accept it.
Such humiliation.
His anger made him unable to stay any longer, so he immediately said: "Goodbye."
He turned around and was about to leave.
But suddenly, another civil servant caught up with him and said hurriedly: "Mr. Deng."
Deng Da stopped, pursed his lips, and looked back indifferently.
The clerk said breathlessly: "Ambassador Hu also remembered something. He said he had something he wanted to show you."
After saying this, the clerk took out a silver lock from his sleeve.
This silver lock has long since turned black, and I don’t know if it’s due to oxidation. It’s pitted, and it doesn’t look like a valuable thing.
The official said: "Ambassador Hu said that this lock has been in his hands for seventeen years, and he wears it with him all the time."
After hearing this, Deng Da froze on the spot for a moment, his body trembling slightly.
Although the silver lock was an old thing, he recognized it.
This silver lock was indeed seventeen years old. They were both classmates at that time. One day they made an appointment to go to the Deng family for dinner. Because of their good relationship, it was natural for them to visit the Deng family's parents.
Deng Da's parents also liked Hu Mu. Immediately, Deng's mother took a silver lock and gave it to Hu Mu as a gift.
Naturally, Deng Da had long forgotten this past incident of seeing things and thinking about people. But now that his memory was suddenly recalled, he couldn't help but realize that his resentment towards Hu Mu might be somewhat unreasonable.
This ordinary silver lock was carried by Hu Mu for seventeen years, which shows its weight.
Seeing his changing expression, the clerk smiled and said: "Ambassador Hu said that he hopes you go to Pingtan Yi, where... you can see a lot of things. The world is vast. While you are young, why not take advantage of the opportunity?
How about taking this opportunity to experience it?"
Deng Da pondered for a moment. He originally planned to leave, but after all, he was insulted and his pride did not allow him to have anything to do with Hu Mu anymore.
But when he saw the silver lock, Deng Da took a deep breath, stopped immediately, took another deep breath, and said, "Is there any way to teach students to go to Pingtan?"
The clerk smiled and said, "Just come to the Railway Department to pick it up tomorrow."
"Okay." Deng Da nodded, looked at the silver lock, and said: "This silver lock..."
But the clerk said: "This silver lock must be returned to Ambassador Hu. Ambassador Hu wears it every day."
Deng Da nodded and then left with feelings!
…
It's the end of the year.
Now the Jiangxi Railway Department has been repairing the railway for a year and a half.
The railways of this era were relatively quick to lay. After all, they were just small steam trains and there were not so many standards.
Nanchang Station, Ruizhou Station, Raozhou Station, Fuzhou Station, Jiujiang Station, and half of Jiangxi's railways are all connected. With Nanchang Station as the center, it begins to radiate to the north of Jiangxi. However, the projects in Jizhou, Ganzhou and other places are not
It will take a long time, it is very mountainous there, so it will take some time.
The completion of the railway also brought about the rise of new cities in each station.
In the past, the old city was gradually declining, which naturally caused huge problems. At least this year, the Ministry of Household Affairs received half the money and food received from the Jiangxi Chief Envoy.
After the Ministry of Accounts reviewed the accounts, they went out of their way to report it, which suddenly aroused huge controversy.
The annual income has been reduced by more than half, and the grain tax is still barely 70-80%, but other taxes, such as tea, salt, iron, etc., have almost plummeted.
The imperial court still needs to invest so much gold and silver in the construction of railways in Jiangxi Province every year. It can be said that it is a waste at home and the household registration is halved.
After Xia Yuanji presented the memorial, he expressed concern about this.
I don’t know how many other performers there are.
Even the Wenyuan Pavilion has caused controversy.
For example, Hu Guang and Jin Youzi also began to have self-doubt.
Sometimes you have to admire Hu Guang.
He was obviously tied to the train by Zhang Anshi, but once a large-scale deficit occurred, he still did not take into account the interests of the Railway Department and the Postal Department. Instead, he wondered whether this was too hasty and whether it would cause other problems.
Hu Guang then petitioned his majesty to pay attention to this matter, or to reduce the size of the railway department slightly, so as not to act too hastily and lead to the corruption of Jiangxi.
When the memorial arrived at Zhu Di's place, Zhu Di couldn't help but said: "Now hundreds of members of the Hu family are working in the Railway Department. The old guy Hu Guang also has a son who went from the Railway Department to the Postal Department. He is very tough.
You actually want to use a knife on your own family."
Yishiha couldn't express too many opinions on this kind of thing, so he just laughed and said: "I can't understand Mr. Hu either."
Zhu Di put the memorial aside and sighed: "That's all, don't pay attention to him, he is an old fool."
Although he said this, Zhu Di was still a little worried: "Judging from the situation in the Ministry of Household Affairs, it is indeed a bit bad. I am also worried that if this goes on for a long time, bandits will breed, or... it will cause other problems...
"
He said, deep in thought.
And at the same time.
Hu Guang had a heated debate with Zhang Anshi.
Hu Guangdao: "Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes. This does not mean that the New Deal cannot be carried out, nor does it mean that railways cannot be built, nor does it mean..."
Zhang Anshi said: "Hu Gong, okay, okay, I can't speak to you."
Hu Guangdao: "This is not a question of whether it is exaggerated or unexplained. This is..."
There were also Xie Jin, Yang Rong and Jin Youzi present, but they were all like wooden figures, sitting still.
They are all scheming people, and even if they have their own opinions in their hearts, they will never express them in public.
But at this time, someone came in a hurry and said: "Urgent report, urgent report, urgent report from the Post Office."
Everyone looked at it.
Zhang Anshi seemed to be rescued all of a sudden, and he hurriedly took the opportunity to hide aside and drink tea.
Hu Guangdao: "Where is the rush and such panic?"
"From the Jiangxi Railway Department, handwritten by His Royal Highness the Emperor."
After hearing this, Hu Guang cheered up, stretched out his hand, and said, "What are you playing? Come, take it and have a look."
Immediately, he took the memorial and opened it in front of everyone, but found that the memorial was too thick.
After looking at it for a long time, Hu Guang raised his head and said with a ashamed look: "Everyone, please come and take a look. This memorial... I don't understand it very well."
Everyone couldn't help but shake their heads inwardly. When ordinary people encounter such things that they don't understand, they are still Wenyuan Pavilion bachelors after all. They still have to hold it as if they have pearls of wisdom in their hands, and then hand the memorial to others in an understatement, saying that you also
Let's see.
In this way, you can cover up your ignorance.
But Hu Guang really went too far.
Zhang Anshi came up happily and said, "I'll take a look, I'll take a look."