The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 389 Private Meeting
"I am very grateful to Captain Qi for seeing me off. Let's have a drink together tomorrow when we are free and talk about our military friendship."

A carriage marked with the royal emblem stopped at the entrance of Chang'an Jinsheng Hotel. Li Yanliang got off the carriage, bowed to a captain of the Imperial Guard who was seeing him off, and greeted him warmly.

"You are too polite, sir." Qi Yongkuan, the captain of the Imperial Guard, saluted the other party solemnly and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "When I am free someday, I will treat you to a few drinks and take this opportunity to ask you for some military advice. Unfortunately, I have a military mission today and have no time to talk about military friendship with you."

The two exchanged a few words of greeting and then said goodbye. Qi Yongkuan rode the royal carriage back to Taiyi Palace to report.

Li Yanliang stood at the door of the hotel, hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked towards the street.

Seeing this, a coachman who had been waiting near the hotel for a long time immediately drove over to meet the guest.

"Does this general need a car?" Peng Changgui jumped down from the driver's seat and greeted Li Yanliang enthusiastically.

"Well, I'm going to..." Li Yanliang looked around and whispered, "...Xiushan Lake in Weiyang District (now Highfields Town, Toowoomba City). Do you know that place?"

"I know, I know!" Peng Changgui nodded hurriedly and replied, "Xiushan Lake is a famous noble area outside Chang'an City. There are many luxurious villas and manors. Even many princes and marquises of the royal family live there. ... General, it's a long way to go!"

"...Oh, it's a bit far?" Li Yanliang said, and suddenly felt a little regretful, hesitating whether to rush over.

"…many princes and marquises of the royal family live there"!
If this causes any trouble, it will be difficult to resolve.

"Sir?" Peng Changgui felt anxious when he saw the lieutenant standing in front of the car door and not going in.

Are you afraid of the long journey and don’t want to go?
Could it be that such a high-ranking officer like him is still short of this little money for transportation?

"Sir, I'll only charge you 70 cents for the ride to Weiyang District." Peng Changgui said carefully, "You have to know that it's about seven or eight kilometers from here! ... My carriage is elegantly decorated and comfortable to ride in. It's the best carriage in this area. Look at the four wheels, all of which are made of the best rubber tires. There's not even a single vibration when you drive on the road. ... And the leather seats in the carriage are so soft!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yanliang subconsciously looked at the wheels of the carriage.

Well, it is obviously larger than the hardwood wheels I saw more than ten years ago.

"...Sixty cents is fine." Peng Changgui decided to lower the fare a little bit. "General, you know, Xiushan Lake is full of dignitaries, and they all have their own carriages. I might not be able to attract a return passenger for a long time if I take you there, and I will have to return empty-handed. Hey, you don't know, the rental fee of the carriage, the feed for the horses, the tolls, and the cleaning fee collected by the municipal government (for horse manure), it is a huge expense in a month..."

"Okay, I'll take your car." Li Yanliang despised himself in his heart for being so indecisive when going to meet someone.

"Okay! Please get in, sir." Peng Changgui opened the door of the carriage attentively. After the guest was seated, he immediately returned to the driving seat, gently shook the reins with both hands, and drove the carriage onto the flat road.

Among the many cities in Qi State, Chang'an City had the largest number of horse-drawn carriages. In addition to numerous government official carriages, there were countless luxurious private carriages and rental carriages.

This is because Chang'an, as the political center and cultural and scientific center of the empire, gathered a large number of dignitaries, scholars and experts. In addition, many wealthy businessmen purchased properties in Chang'an in order to be closer to the center of power, making the density of "rich people" in the entire city far exceed that of other cities.

Since there are so many rich people gathering here, the number of horse-drawn carriages traveling is naturally huge. The streets and roads in the Zhuque and Xuanwu districts in the city center are often clogged with all kinds of vehicles. Any vehicle accident will immediately cause an annoying congestion.

In huge cities like Jianye and Daxing, where industry and commerce were extremely developed, although the scale of their horse-drawn carriages was also extremely large, in terms of density, they were not as dense as Chang'an.

During this period, walking was still the most common way to travel. In order to save transportation expenses, countless workers and business employees would rather spend more time walking to and from get off work.

As for riding in a public carriage, that would only happen when there was something extremely urgent and you would have to bear the pain and pay for it.

It is estimated that in the nearby city of Daxing, about 12 people walk to industrial areas throughout the city every day. Many of those who walk long distances work 14 to hours a day, and after get off work, they drag their tired bodies and walk for half an hour or even more than an hour to return home to rest, which is extremely tiring.

In this era of extremely strong demand, the goods produced in factories seem to never have to worry about the market, and people's consumption seems to be endless, which also causes many people to work longer hours.

In a political city like Chang'an, which was not dominated by industrial production, even the coachmen had long working hours. Their short shifts were 14 or 16 hours, and the long shifts ranged from to hours, or even longer.

However, horses cannot work such long hours, and a 12-hour shift requires two or three horses to replace each other, while a 16-hour shift requires four horses to replace each other.

The working hours for stagecoach employees were particularly long, with drivers and conductors often working 20 hours a day, starting at 4 a.m. and ending at midnight, with a one-and-a-half-hour break, and taking turns to rest the next day. Transport employees also worked an average of 15 hours a day, from 7 a.m. to midnight, with 15 minutes for dinner and 10 minutes for rotation at the terminal.

"What about renting a carriage like yours?" Li Yanliang couldn't help but feel curious as he listened to the coachman's story.

"For us, who rent carriages at will, the working hours are not fixed." Peng Changgui stared at the road ahead and kept saying, "Sometimes, we have to work for more than 20 hours. Think about it, once a customer sits in your carriage, you have to obey his orders at all times. When you arrive in a remote place, you have to spend time soliciting customers everywhere. You don't want to go back empty-handed, right? A few days ago, I picked up a nobleman at the train station and took him to a manor in Baqiao District. It took me more than ten hours. It was not until the next morning that I took the drunk customer back to the hotel in the city. However, this kind of customer is generous. He will give you two or three yuan, which is equivalent to your income for two days."

"Then can you bear driving for more than ten hours every day?"

"We poor people are not afraid of hardship!" Peng Changgui said with a smile, "As long as we can make money, it doesn't matter if we sleep a few hours less. If we are really sleepy, we can just take a nap in the car to relax. ... We can't delay making money, right? I heard from my parents that when they were in Qin, let alone sleeping a few hours less, even if they worked themselves to exhaustion, they couldn't make much money. In the summer, it's okay to endure, and we can find something to eat everywhere, but in the winter, it's life-threatening. Not only can we not find a bite to eat, but we might even freeze to death in the broken house on a snowy day." "Did your parents immigrate from Qin?"

"It's not immigration at all!" Peng Changgui said, "My father was brought back as a disaster victim. He was lucky. He managed to make it to Haizhou (today's Lianyungang) with his last breath. Then he was picked up by a large ship from Qi State and brought to Hanzhou. However, my father's brothers and sisters were not so lucky. Two of them died of plague in the village, and another starved to death on the way. Hey, if it weren't for my father's luck, I wouldn't have the blessing to live a good life in Qi State!"

"You drive so hard every day, and you still say you live a good life?" Li Yanliang asked with a smile.

"Oh, my military lord. A commoner like me cannot compare to a great officer like you, who has a generous salary, many benefits, and eats food provided by the court. ... But life is hard to compare. My father often nags me that the common people in our Qi State live a better life than the landlords in Qin State. He said that the rich families in their village may not be able to get meat to eat for ten days or half a month. Hey, unlike us, when we are greedy, we can weigh two taels of meat from time to time to satisfy our teeth. The little brats in the family often ask for some pocket money from their fathers and sell some candies and snacks on the street. Don't you think this life is the happy life that common people like us want the most?"

"That's right!" Li Yanliang nodded. "Compared with other countries, this day and age shows how good our Great Qi is."

"That's right!" Peng Changgui turned his head and smiled at Li Yanliang, saying, "Even in such a good life, there are always some people who keep complaining about how corrupt and incompetent the government is, how unfair society is, how black-hearted the businessmen and factory owners are, and how you soldiers are always waging wars outside... I think these people are just idle! Since they say that our Qi is not good here and there, why don't they leave Qi and go to other countries? You say, our Qi does not restrict your personal freedom, you can come and go as you please, why do you have to stay in the country!"

"Because, in this world, there is no country better than our Qi!" Li Yanliang said leisurely, "Moreover, if these people leave our Qi and dare to talk nonsense like this in other countries, they will probably end up in jail."

"That's right! Only our Qi State can tolerate these people's nonsense. If it were the Qin State, they would definitely be chopped off one by one for slandering the court! Hey, you know what, most of these people are sure that the Qi government can't do anything to them, so they dare to say all kinds of bad things about the government. ..."

As they were talking, the carriage gradually stopped. Li Yanliang stuck his head out to look outside and it seemed that they had not yet reached Weiyang District.

"Sir, please wait a moment. I'll go pay the toll." Peng Changgui said as he jumped off the carriage, took out a few cents from his pocket, and walked to a sentry box in front.

There was a railing across the road ahead, blocking the carriage. A sturdy middle-aged man sat in a sentry box next to him. He took the coins from Peng Changgui, counted them, and put them into a money box. Then, he took a seal and stamped it on a pass and handed it over.

"See? To get from the city to Weiyang District, you have to go through this toll gate and pay a dime." Peng Changgui waved the ticket at Li Yanliang and complained, "So, I charged you 70 cents for this trip, but I didn't make much money. I have to deduct 10 cents from the toll. If you go back to the city from Weiyang and don't pick up any passengers, you still have to pay 10 cents."

"Okay, okay, don't complain in front of me. When we get to our destination, I'll pay for your fare!" Li Yanliang said with a wry smile, "Are there many toll roads in Chang'an City?"

In the past, people traveled to and from Chang'an basically by official carriages or military carriages. Everywhere they went was open to the public, and they really didn't pay attention to the toll checkpoints in the city.

"There were more toll gates a dozen years ago. Not only were there many toll gates in the suburbs, but there were also many toll gates in the city. However, in recent years, in order to ensure the smooth flow of urban roads and improve the efficiency of logistics, the government has gradually bought back those toll roads and removed many toll gates. Otherwise, with so many new carriages in Chang'an City in recent years, the roads would have been blocked long ago!"

From the sixth year of Taiping (1710) to the first year of Yonglong (1730), the population of Chang'an increased from more than 120 to nearly , the number of public carriages increased by %, and the number of rental carriages increased by a similar amount.

As the density of the railway network increased, the road usage increased further. At this time, the production and sales of goods were distributed in different places, and the different stages of production were also distributed in different places. Although goods were transported by rail, a large number of freight carriages were required to transport them from the starting point to the railway. This made many major roads extremely busy and even congested from time to time.

One of the main and most difficult to solve causes of traffic congestion is an official issue, namely the existence of road toll checkpoints.

During the Hanxing period (1670-1685), in order to make up for the lack of financial investment in public transportation, Emperor Taizu encouraged private capital to repair roads. In return for their investment, the government allowed them to charge a certain fee to road users.

This move led to the great development of public services in Qi, making domestic roads crisscrossed and greatly improving transportation facilities. However, it also led to the formation of ubiquitous toll gates, especially in some large and medium-sized cities and their surrounding areas. There were toll booths almost every ten kilometers (or dozens of kilometers), forcing the speeding carriages to stop.

For example, in large industrial cities such as Jianye, Daxing, Linzi, Weihai, and Guangling, many of the roads leading in and out of the urban areas are dotted with toll checkpoints.

Therefore, the public has been calling on the government to cancel a large number of toll checkpoints in a timely manner to meet the requirements of smooth flow of industrial and commercial materials.

During the Taiping period, the cabinet and local governments with abundant finances responded to the public's call, took out part of the funds, and raised a large amount of financial funds by levying public utility taxes. They bought back many toll roads at a discount, dismantled toll checkpoints, and then allowed the public to pass for free.

By the Yonglong period, there were only three toll booths left in the Xuanwu and Zhuque districts of Chang'an City, and none remained in the neighborhoods near the Taiyi Palace and Taichu Palace.

However, there are still many toll booths in the surrounding areas and on the main roads in and out of Chang'an, charging between five cents and twenty cents depending on the type of carriage and the weight of the carriage. Merchants, peddlers and large companies all need to consider this expense, and even going out for entertainment at night has to consider tolls, which is very annoying.

It was already afternoon when the carriage arrived at a unique manor at Xiushan Lake in Weiyang District.

Peng Changgui took the one-yuan gold note from Li Yanliang with surprise and bowed repeatedly to express his gratitude.

"You go now." Li Yanliang waved his hand and whispered, "It's best not to talk about any of the guests you have brought in in front of others. Otherwise, you will bring disaster upon yourself!"

"...Oh, I understand." Peng Changgui was stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded in response.

Li Yanliang took a deep breath, lowered his general's cap a little, almost covering half of his face, and then walked towards the gate of the manor.

(End of this chapter)