In the fifth month of the eighth year of Yuanzhen, Zhao Hanzhang gave birth to her second son. The entire nation celebrated. This year, the court finally established the Silk Road, the relay station construction in Western Liang was completed, and it connected with the relay station system in the Central Plains.
The Hua Kingdom’s relay stations extended farthest to Kucha, the frontier post of Wusun.
Wu Liang was from Anping Kingdom in Jizhou. He was a student at the Anping Kingdom prefectural school in Jizhou. At seventeen, he clearly knew he couldn’t pass the entrance exam for the provincial school, much less the Imperial Academy, not to mention the national examinations.
The county exam he could try.
But he was unwilling to settle for this. He had an elder brother who joined the military in the second year of Jianxing, so through his brother he took the exam and entered the army.
That’s right, the Zhao Family Army—no, it wasn’t the Zhao Family Army anymore, but the army of the Hua Kingdom. Because of strict management and never harming civilians, it won the people’s hearts. The court’s treatment of the military was also the best of all previous dynasties, so the common people no longer complained about military service but competed to join the army.
Wu Liang wasn’t good enough for the national exams, and the county exam would only make him a minor clerk, so he planned to take a chance in the military.
His martial arts classes during his studies were all excellent, with archery being his best.
So he planned to earn military merit on the battlefield.
However, he never expected that two years after enlisting, he only participated in three bandit suppression campaigns and one Western Regions battle, advancing from an ordinary soldier to a squad leader.
This time he was transferred to Kucha to build the Kucha relay station.
Through the court’s unrelenting efforts, the Western Regions nations along the Silk Road finally agreed to let the Hua Kingdom establish relay stations along the route to collect and send letters for traveling merchants away from home, transmit messages, and also provide certain military protection for Hua Kingdom merchants.
Wu Liang’s small squad was conscripted as relay soldiers for the Kucha relay station, and Wu Liang became the relay station commissioner.
The Kucha relay station was on the edge of an oasis, occupying a large area. Yellow earth buildings formed a circle—up close, three rows connected together; from a distance, a circle protecting the central area.
As soon as Wu Liang and his men arrived, the engineering team that built the relay station immediately handed over to them and hurriedly prepared to leave.
Wu Liang tried to keep them, saying, “Why not stay and eat a meal together?”
The foreman sighed, “Meeting fellow countrymen in a foreign land, of course we’d like to, but we’ve also taken on construction work for the Kucha palace and can’t afford delays.”
Wu Liang’s eyes flickered slightly as he asked, “I’ve long heard you were capable, but I didn’t expect you to be capable enough to secure construction work for the Kucha palace.”
The foreman replied with both pride and modesty, “Not at all, not at all. We’re just relying on Her Majesty’s prestige abroad to make a living.”
Wu Liang gave the foreman some things they brought from the Central Plains, using this to delay time.
The soldiers who had finished inspecting the buildings took this opportunity to glean quite a bit of information from the engineering team members, then ran to whisper in Wu Liang’s ear, “They didn’t take on palace construction work, but rather construction of a corner of one of the Kucha King’s villas.”
That was enough. Wu Liang decided to build a good relationship with him, preferably obtaining a map of the villa—who knew if it might be useful in the future?
Wu Liang escorted them five li away before returning to survey their military camp—oh, no, the relay station.
A relay station, besides collecting and sending letters and packages, also had the responsibilities of hosting Hua Kingdom officials, foreign envoys, and scouting military intelligence and escorting classified information.
And the relay stations established by Zhao Hanzhang, in addition to the above powers, also had the responsibility of protecting Hua Kingdom merchants and conducting temporary foreign diplomacy—equivalent to a government office.
So of these three rows of buildings, only one row was their living quarters. The remaining two rows were all office areas. The front row had three rooms: one responsible for relay station accommodation reception, one for collecting and sending letters and packages, and one for public affairs.
For example, if someone came to report that they were Hua Kingdom citizens who encountered bandits and had their money and goods stolen, they would need to go out, suppress the bandits, and recover the money and goods.
Of course, they only had a hundred men and had to act within their means.
But it didn’t matter—two hundred li to the east and northeast there were two more relay stations each. The relay stations could communicate with each other and cooperate.
The second row contained all guest rooms, kitchens, bathing rooms, and so on.
Wu Liang inspected every room, then ran to the water source lake to check. After confirming there were no problems, he had people take out the generator and install it in the middle room of the third row, then ran wires to Room A of the first row, which was marked as the collection room.
There was a telegraph here.
Three people stood watch in the telegraph room every night, with their remaining seven men next door.
Wu Liang didn’t have many telegraph operators—only one person per squad knew how, so the duty system was rotational, one squad per day.
But he felt this wasn’t enough—there still weren’t enough people. So he decided that after settling in, he would have everyone in the squad learn. Whether they could master it or not, they all had to attend classes. Teaching one was one.
The relay station quickly opened.
He hung up the sign. The third squad leader pulled out firecrackers he’d brought from the Central Plains and set them off with a crackle and pop.
Wu Liang was a bit bewildered, asking, “You brought these on a long journey?”
The third squad leader chuckled, “Before leaving, I thought about it—opening a relay station should at least set off a string of firecrackers. Not only is it auspicious, but it also drives away evil and ensures peace. The Western Regions don’t have these, so I brought them myself.”
Wu Liang was speechless but also somewhat pleased.
However, the firecracker noise here frightened the Kucha people who had been watching.
It wasn’t until the next day that someone tentatively came to investigate.
Besides hosting officials, the relay station also hosted ordinary merchants, though they had to pay.
Wu Liang was doing business for the first time, as were all his soldiers.
But it didn’t matter—they had trained before coming. So seeing a string of coins thrown before him, Wu Liang forcefully pulled at the corners of his mouth, showing a smile, “Honored guest, please come in. Would you like an upper room or a middle room?”
The guest was startled by his cruel smile, and the pleasure of throwing money at someone instantly disappeared. He stuttered for a moment, “Stay, stay in an upper room.”
Wu Liang waved his hand, having a soldier lead the way.
The soldiers in the relay station’s food and lodging area didn’t wear military uniforms but unified everyday clothing. This was to reduce the military camp feeling and give guests a homelike feeling.
This was also what they had trained for before coming.
The soldiers grinned, showing exactly eight teeth as trained—no more, absolutely no less—smiling all the way as they escorted the person to the guest room.
The guest thought: …
The Hua Kingdom’s relay station is a bit terrifying. Should he really investigate this information?
The guest spent an uncomfortable night at the relay station, enjoying their “meticulous” service. The next day he quickly checked out, but didn’t leave. Instead, he tentatively asked, “If I send a letter to Luoyang, how long would it take?”
The soldier said, “Is it urgent? If the honored guest is in a hurry, you can spend a bit more money and the recipient can receive it the same day.”
The guest smiled awkwardly, “You really like to joke. I’m serious—I really have a friend in Luoyang and want to send him a letter.”
The soldier replied, “Honored guest, I’m also serious, not joking. It truly can arrive within one day, as long as your address is correct.”
The guest’s eyes widened, then went with the soldier to the collection room, where he saw the telegraph.