Chapter 310 The incident happened
During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the delivery of private letters by post stations and express delivery shops was greatly reduced, and they basically only delivered letters for the imperial court.

However, this situation began to improve starting from the Yongle Dynasty. Post stations and express delivery shops began to receive private letters and parcels. By this dynasty, they had expanded to the scale of the former Song Dynasty.

Post stations have natural advantages in this industry.

In order to receive official documents and letters from government offices in various places in a timely manner and facilitate the transmission of military intelligence, Zhu Yuanzhang set up express delivery shops every ten, fifteen, and twenty-five miles according to the conditions in various places.

This density of coverage is unmatched by any other private credit bureau.

When Pan Yun was in Sanqing Mountain, if he wanted to write a letter to his father and brother in Datong, couldn't he only send it through the express delivery agency?
Because there are only express delivery shops in the market.

The delivery of these letters depended on the soldiers at the post stations. Except for some urgent military letters and confidential letters from the court, the letters were basically delivered by local conscripts serving as soldiers.

The conscription service meant that they had no salary, only basic food and lodging. If they were like this soldier, who was sentenced to another three months of forced labor after serving for three months, he would not only miss the spring planting but also the summer harvest. He could not even guarantee the family income. How could he support his family?

The reason I changed my address to calling him "big brother" was because he said he was only twenty-six years old.

Looking at his wrinkled eyes and the gray hair on his temples, Pan Yun felt a little upset. He was only a few years older than Wang Cong, but looked older than Wang Feiyin.

Pan Yun turned around and said to Miao Zhen: "Let the cow run faster."

Miaozhen agreed, whipped the cow, and let it run quickly towards the county town.

The car went directly to the county government office. The soldiers hurriedly got off the car holding the backpacks in their arms, but they did not dare to leave the two large packages on the ox cart.

"It's not that I don't trust the Taoist priest, but this is the rule."

Pan Jun knew that he must have suffered losses in this regard, so even if he met the best person, he would not dare to break the rules.

Pan Yun nodded, helped him put the load on his shoulders, and then calmly stuffed two folded yellow talismans into his waist.

The man walked into the county government office carrying a load on his shoulder and a backpack.

The things in the backpack are official documents from the county government.

The clerk who received the official documents frowned when he saw him and shouted, "Why are you here only now? You are two hours late."

The man bowed and apologized, explaining, "The snow that fell a few days ago has melted, and the road is difficult to walk on. I fell a few times yesterday and slept outdoors at night. I was also afraid that the water on the ground would wet the documents, so..."

"I won't listen to this. This isn't the first time you've been late. The county magistrate has shown mercy several times, and you've become even more proud. It's only because there's no urgent business recently. If there's any urgent business, and you're delayed, you'll have to live."

The man almost cried, begging, "Sir, please give me another chance. I really didn't mean it. Mail delivery is a shift job, but I have been delivering mail for three consecutive months..."

"That's your post station's business. Our county office doesn't care about these things. If you don't want to deliver the letter, go and talk to your post office." The clerk turned around and said to the person next to him, "According to the law, he should be beaten with five boards. Take him away."

The man did not dare to argue and followed the officer to be beaten with a stick.

He was already familiar with this kind of thing. He wiped the tears from his eyes and lay down on the bench in the yard.

Sun Guisheng hurriedly passed by him, and paused when he saw this. He turned around and stopped Meng Dadong who was coming with a big stick, "Brother Meng, let me beat you with this stick."

Meng Dadong frowned, "Why, you have nothing to do?"

Sun Guisheng rolled up his sleeves and said, "I've been pissed off outside and have nowhere to vent it, so this is a good opportunity for me to vent my anger."

Meng Dadong's eyebrows relaxed when he heard this, and he smiled and said, "Okay, I'll give you this job. Beat him well. This old guy has no memory. He has been delivering official documents for several months. How many times has he been late?"

Sun Guisheng agreed, took the big stick and stood beside the man, checking the information and said, "Su Dashan, from Nanpo Village, right?"

"That's right, that's right."

Sun Guisheng: "Five strokes of the cane for dereliction of duty, the charge is not wrong, right?"

Su Dashan: “That’s right.”

Sun Guisheng said, "Okay, let's start the execution now."

Sun Guisheng suddenly raised the big stick and slapped it down hard. There was a loud bang, but Su Dashan was stunned.

Sun Guisheng was also stunned and glared at Su Dashan fiercely. Su Dashan reacted and screamed.

Meng Dadong, who had taken two steps towards this side, stopped and continued to lean over to watch the fun. He saw Sun Guisheng lifting him up high and bringing him down hard, but each time he failed at the head and hit the other person's buttocks, which had the most flesh. He couldn't help but sneer.

When it comes to beating with a stick, he is second to none in the whole county. No one dares to claim to be first, and yet someone is trying to be smart under his nose.

Sun Guisheng said he wanted to calm down his anger, but every blow avoided Su Dashan's vital points, which showed that he disdained his method of execution.

However, Sun Guisheng was valued by the county magistrate, and Meng Dadong did not intend to point it out.

After Sun Guisheng finished beating people with five sticks, he handed the big stick to Meng Dadong and said with a smile, "Brother Meng, thank you for your help."

Meng Dadong took it with a fake smile, "No trouble."

After he left, Sun Guisheng said to Su Dashan who had climbed up while holding his buttocks, "I have seen you many times. Even if you are a good person, you will collapse if you run mail delivery for a month. You should ask your family to find a way to raise money and use the relationship with the post office or the postmaster. Even if you can't go home, you should change the shift of delivering mail."

Su Dashan opened his mouth and said in an almost inaudible voice, "Thank you for your advice, sir..." Su Dashan picked up the shoulder pole, staggered out with the two large packages in his arms.

Not only did Sun Guisheng look at him in surprise, but even Su Dashan himself was shocked. He just wanted to give it a try, and wanted to carry the load even if it meant death, but he didn't expect that he could lift it so easily.

Su Dashan turned around with his load on his shoulder to look at Sun Guisheng. He was even more grateful and thanked him repeatedly: "Thank you very much, sir. Thank you very much, sir..."

Sun Guisheng looked at Su Dashan, who was carrying a load and walking out with almost no abnormality, and was stunned for a long time without coming to his senses.

He did release some water, but the water wasn't that deep, right?

In order to prevent Meng Dadong from getting into trouble, he also used force. Although he didn't hurt himself inside, he inevitably suffered some flesh injuries. Now... can he carry something and walk?
However, Su Dashan felt that he was extremely strong now. Not only was he strong, but also the places where his waist was twisted and the places where his buttocks were hit were warm.

Su Dashan walked out of the county government office happily. Just when he was about to thank Pan Yun and the other two, he disappeared.

Su Dashan was stunned for a moment, and then he hurriedly carried the package to the post station.

The post station received the parcel and after counting it, the postmaster in charge of this section said, "Su Dashan, are you late again in delivering the official document to the government office today? According to the law, you will be fined one month of hard labor."

Su Dashan's lips trembled slightly, and he said quickly: "Sir, I have been doing this for half a year..."

"You deserve it. You made the most mistakes among all the soldiers. If you had paid more attention, this wouldn't have happened."

At this time, Mingren was calling the postmaster to ask him about Su Dashan, "I see this post soldier has been in service for half a year, why is it so long?"

The postmaster was stunned for a moment and then quickly said, "He only served for three months, and the other three months were punished."

Akihito asked, "Why were they all punished?"

There were those who were late in delivering official documents and were fined for more than three times in total; there were also those who were fined for losing letters and packages; and there was another case where he offended his superior, quarreled with the shop owner, and even beat him up.

Mingren asked: "Each time the official documents were delivered late, what was the reason? How long were they late?"

The postmaster's forehead began to sweat. He reached out his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead. He glanced at the young Taoist priest sitting beside him, wearing a Taoist robe and a hat, drinking tea slowly. He didn't dare to look at him any more. After trying hard to recall, he said, "The first time I was late was on July 8th, a day late."

Akihito: "I remember that there were heavy rains from July 7th to July 8th."

The postmaster immediately said, "Even if it rains swords from the sky, the post soldiers have to deliver the documents to the government office. Moreover, it is such an emergency, so we can't be late."

"Then why did you choose a serving soldier to deliver the letter? The official document is urgent, and it should be delivered by the regular soldiers of the post station and the express delivery shop." Mingren said with a sullen face: "I heard that you have let him deliver letters outside for a month, and you didn't arrange shifts for him?"

Yicheng's forehead was sweating more. Mingren had a blank expression on his face. He tapped the table with his finger and said, "What about the second time? When was it late the second time?"

The postmaster bowed his head and said, "It was late on July 14th. It was late... about two hours."

Mingren: "The time for the express delivery shop to deliver official documents to the government office has been advanced from noon to noon?"

"Yes, this is to make it easier for you to process the official documents in the morning."

Mingren didn't expect that he was also involved in this. He rubbed his forehead and said, "From the last post to here, carrying a heavy load, it takes at least two hours at the fastest. If the road is difficult to walk, it will take longer. Three or four hours is the light work. In other words, the work time you arranged for him is all at night. You asked him to walk at night to deliver letters during the Ghost Festival?"

The postmaster wiped the sweat from his forehead and whispered, "The government office was on holiday that day, so there should be no official documents."

After hearing this, Mingren was furious and slammed the table fiercely, saying, "Since there is no official document, why is there a saying that those who deliver the document late will be punished?"

The postmaster knelt down hurriedly and said, "These are all reports from the post offices below. I don't know the specific details. I will go back and find out."

Pan Yun put down his teacup and said, "Master Ming, I think he really doesn't know."

The postmaster nodded repeatedly, but Mingren's expression became even uglier.

Pan Yun: "No one expected that a petty official would have so much power, and without anyone to supervise him, it would be so easy for them to kill a person or destroy a family, all they had to do was assign him more tasks to deliver letters."

The postmaster looked up at Pan Yun in surprise and said quickly, "Young Taoist priest, you are too kind. Su Dashan just delivered the letter a few days too late. I will let him go home now."

Mingren said sullenly, "Report all the labor service collected by the post station in the past two years, the service time and the number of people. I want to check the register. In addition to the post station, other places must also report the number of people serving, the date, etc. one by one."

The postmaster's legs trembled slightly, and he fell to his knees with a thud. This move could kill many people.

Mingren narrowed his eyes, clenched his fists, and shouted coldly: "Go quickly!"

The master hesitated for a moment and advised: "Think twice, sir. This investigation will cause a big incident. You may be promoted next year..."

If something happens at this time, it will only do harm to Akihito, not good.

Mingren said coldly: "I am still the magistrate of Yushan County."

The master sighed, stopped trying to persuade him, and said to the postmaster kneeling on the ground: "Postmaster Zhou, please..."

　good night

　　(End of this chapter)