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From Guizhou to the east, the roads are all flat asphalt, with a constant stream of vehicles and pedestrians.
The asphalt flows down the river from Guangyuan, Sichuan, turns into the Xiangjiang River, and is unloaded from ships and loaded onto trucks in Changsha. It is then transported continuously to Guizhou via this asphalt road.
Moreover, as Dongwu and Qinghai-Tibet were successively incorporated into the territory of the Qin Dynasty, most of the merchants and travelers on the ancient Tea-Horse Road in the southwest switched to this southwestern artery, making this road more lively.
The food that the imperial court supplied to the 200,000-strong army building the road was also transferred along this major artery. The road was bustling with the hustle and bustle of carriages and horses, and roadside inns, restaurants and teahouses popped up like mushrooms after a rain. Every few miles, you could see the scene of "water villages and mountain hamlets with wine flags fluttering in the wind."
The road is three meters wide and can accommodate four carriages running side by side. However, there is a dividing line in the middle of the road, requiring pedestrians and vehicles to drive on the right. In fact, the left and right sides become one-way roads.
Today's horse-drawn carriages have also changed a lot. They no longer have only two wheels like before, but now mostly have four wheels.
At the same time, Nanjing developed something called rubber. After the rubber was cut, it was riveted to the wheels with rivets, making the car lighter and much better than the wooden wheels used before.
As soon as this rubber appeared, it was in short supply and many cars have not yet purchased it and installed it.
More than half of the carriages running on this road were from local horse-drawn carriage companies, which not only carried freight but also provided passenger services.
Changsha's "Wancheng Carriage Company" had as many as 400 carriages of various types, all of which were large four-wheeled carriages, mostly powered by two horses. The trucks could carry up to 6,000 kilograms of grain at a time. Passenger vehicles could be lengthened to carry more than 10 to 20 people at a time.
The passenger bus departs from Changsha and goes to Guiyang for only 50 cents. It is economical and fast. Most passengers will not take such a long distance. Passengers get on and off along the way, and the fare is calculated according to the distance, which is very affordable.
Many people along the way who want to go to Changsha for the market will choose to take this kind of bus. As the number of people increases, the bus company has to add many short-distance passenger vehicles.
If you are rich, you can rent a carriage with all the bedding on it. The carriage company has signed agreements with many restaurants along the way. All guests brought by the carriage company will receive a 20% discount on food and accommodation.
In order to attract business, restaurants and inns all over the country provide free food and lodging for the drivers, not to mention horse feed and other things, which are all prepared by the inn. If the driver brings more than ten guests at a time, the inn will even give him a kickback.
In this way, the operation of the carriage and horse company is basically a no-cost business, which allows them to lower the freight rates and make more people willing to ride.
In order to earn profits from customers, each car and horse company will try to improve the quality of service and provide more guarantees to customers. They will take you to the designated location on the scheduled date without any delay. If there is an unexpected delay, as long as it is not caused by the passenger himself, the car company will waive the charge.
The same applies to freight, a date is agreed upon in advance. If the goods cannot be delivered on time and cause losses, the truck company will not only not charge any fees, but will even bear a certain amount of compensation.
Some big businessmen saw business opportunities in this. The United Car Company set up an insurance company to insure people and goods. According to the type of insurance you paid, if there was a problem, the insurance company would give you corresponding compensation.
It is said that this type of insurance company is doing very well because of its trustworthiness and timely claim settlement. Now it is not limited to the transportation industry, and its insurance business is rapidly expanding to other industries.
There is a more interesting phenomenon that is slowly permeating the entire Daqin. After seeing the huge benefits that the road brings to local people's livelihood, officials from all over the country are increasingly calling for road construction;
But the imperial court had limited financial resources and energy, and could not build asphalt roads across the country. What should it do
Local officials and local gentry and wealthy families often raised funds to build roads. For those gentry and wealthy families who volunteered to build roads, the local government would name the newly built roads after the person who contributed the most money.
For example, if Zhang San contributed the most money, then the road would be called Zhang San Road after it is built.
Others who contributed less money carved words and erected a monument beside the road to preserve it forever.
But there is one thing, you cannot break the law. Once you break the laws of the Qin Dynasty, your name will be chiseled off the stone tablet.
In order to respond to the eager desire of officials and people from all over the country to build roads, the imperial court discussed it and officially issued an edict with the emperor's seal, stating that anyone who supports local road construction and invests more than 5,000 dragon coins can obtain an eighth-grade official title.
This kind of eighth-rank official has no salary, but has one advantage, that is, he can directly submit petitions to the emperor and participate in the annual local government affairs.
The so-called political inquiry means that at the end of each year, the government has the right to inspect the local government’s treasury and income and expenditure accounts. Local officials are not allowed to obstruct the government. Otherwise, once the facts are verified, the obstructing officials will be immediately dismissed and never re-employed.
Once the emperor's decree was promulgated throughout the country, it became a huge event. There were many wealthy families who were willing to spend 5,000 dragon coins to build roads. In some wealthy counties, there was even enough money for road construction, but people were still scrambling to spend money.
The enthusiasm of the people far exceeded expectations. Some counties received donations for road construction, as much as hundreds of thousands of dragon coins. This caused a headache for the imperial court, and it had to send out large numbers of inspectors to supervise the matter.
Fortunately, the judicial power in various places has been transferred from local chief officials to the Tongzhi or county magistrate. The imperial court has stipulated in advance that the local chief officials are responsible for the specific operations of road construction, while the Tongzhi or county magistrate has the authority and responsibility of supervision.
Because the power of judicial trial had just been taken away from the local chief officials and transferred to the Tongzhi or the county magistrate, the relationship between the chief officials in charge of administration and the Tongzhi and the county magistrate in charge of justice was generally somewhat strained, which did avoid many cases of collusion between supervisors and those being supervised.
Going all the way north from Changsha, you will reach Dongting Lake. Now it has become a veritable land of fish and rice and the largest granary of the Qin Dynasty. The annual grain output has exceeded that of Suzhou and Hangzhou. The original saying "When Suzhou and Hangzhou are well-fed, the world is well-fed" has become "When Jinghu is well-fed, the world is well-fed".
Yueyang, the city most visited by scholars, is the most prosperous city along the Dongting Lake. However, the people of Yueyang are different from those in other places. They prefer to call Dongting Lake Xiangfei Lake.
Firstly, Concubine Xiang, who had a very special status, was from Yueyang, and the current emperor had already granted Dongting Lake to Concubine Xiang.
Although this title has no real meaning and is just an empty name, the people of Yueyang like to change the name to Xiangfei Lake.
Going downstream from Yueyang, you will reach Wuchang, which is even more amazing. It has become the most important city in the heart of the Qin Dynasty. This is where the emperor established his throne. Now the imperial court has merged the three towns of Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankou into Wuhan.
The story of how the Empress did not repair the palace, but sold the bricks and stones of the destroyed half of the palace to support the Eight-Legged Essay Forum is still talked about by the people of Wuchang.
In Hanyang City, the story of Li Zhaoyi playing "The General's Order" on the city wall and the emperor fighting a bloody battle with the Jiannu outside the city was compiled into multiple versions of operas by the people. These were performed every day in the streets and people never got tired of watching them.
Today, the city walls of Hanyang still bear traces of the war, and the palace in Wuchang has also retained its original appearance. The people of Wuchang have a common wish, which is to see the emperor and the queen return to the palace in Wuchang to stay for a few days one day.
Back then, the Empress spun yarn and wove cloth herself to make robes for the soldiers at the front, which boosted the textile industry in Wuchang. Now the area around Wuchang has become another textile center after Suzhou and Hangzhou. Every day, boatloads of colorful cloth go down the river and are exported overseas, bringing back huge fortunes for the local area.
In addition, because of the Eight-Legged Essay Forum at that time, Wuhan also became the cultural center of central China, where countless scholars gathered to exchange knowledge and explore knowledge.
Zhang Ruzhou, a scholar from Wuhan University, founded the Hanyang Academy on Guishan Mountain in Jiangbei. Because of the gathering of celebrities, its reputation was comparable to that of Yuelu Academy in Changsha.
Going down the Yangtze River, you will come to Ma'anshan, where you will find that the changes here are even more earth-shaking. Tall smelting furnaces use steam engines to blow air, which greatly increases the furnace temperature. A large amount of high-quality steel is produced every day and transported to all parts of the country by land and water.
Ma'anshan, which was a barren mountain a few years ago, has now become a brand new city at the foot of the mountain. The population has reached 80,000 this year, which is more than the population of some states. Most of the buildings are brand new reinforced concrete structures, giving people a sense of vitality.
It is also the first city in Daqin to have a unique feature: it is the only city in Daqin that does not have a city wall. Apart from the lack of a city wall, it has all the functions of a city and is even more advanced.
Going east from Ma'anshan, you will reach Nanjing City of Daqin. If you have never been to Nanjing City, you cannot imagine that there is such a prosperous place in the world. If you are a foreigner who has never been to Nanjing City, you will definitely be laughed at if you say that you have been to Daqin.
Now even the outer walls here are lined with buildings, every street is so clean and tidy, the air is filled with the fragrance of flowers, the Qinhuai River is filled with music and singing day and night, and the magnificent Qin Palace stands majestically and magnificently.
Every decree issued by the Emperor of Qin from this golden palace must be listened to by the whole world...
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.(To be continued..)
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