In the eighth year of Yuanzhen, the Hua Kingdom had already achieved one telegraph per relay station. Large relay station points even had two or more telegraphs.
Anywhere relay stations reached could communicate by telegraph. Ordinary people could also use them for a fee, so transmitting messages across a thousand li was no longer a secret in the Hua Kingdom, but it still was in the Western Regions.
Because the geographical distance was so great, the Central Plains rarely received news from the Western Regions, and the Western Regions had even more difficulty receiving news from the Central Plains—unless the Central Plains deliberately spread it.
For example, Zhao Hanzhang safely gave birth to the second imperial prince. In less than a month, it spread throughout the Western Regions nations.
But information like increased cotton production—it wasn’t until cotton products were sold in large quantities to the Western Regions that the Western Regions learned a thing or two from Central Plains merchants.
However, this guest wasn’t an ordinary person. He was a Kucha official. Two years ago, rumors vaguely suggested that the Hua Kingdom’s army could provide rapid support and command troops like one’s own arms across vast grasslands and deserts because they possessed a divine instrument for transmitting voices across a thousand li.
They didn’t believe it.
They practiced Buddhism and believed in daily life that there were celestial deities in the world, but politically, once it involved reality, they expressed doubt.
But now…
After the soldier urged him twice, the guest finally came to his senses and quickly said, “I wish to ask Master Huizhen of White Horse Temple in western Luoyang when he will come to Kucha again. What he asked me to handle last time is already done, and I’m urgently waiting to discuss it with him.”
The soldier asked, “Sending this much? It’s very far to Luoyang—one character costs twenty-seven wen, twenty-five characters would be six hundred seventy-five wen.”
The guest gasped—such a high price! Their Kucha five-zhu coins, three of them equaled two “Zhao” character coins. Whether intentionally or not, the relay station’s pricing unit was “Zhao” character coins.
Of course, they also accepted Kucha five-zhu coins, they just needed conversion. So six hundred seventy-five wen in “Zhao” character coins converted to Kucha five-zhu coins was how much?
The guest’s mind instantly became a chaotic mess—he couldn’t calculate it.
The soldier, however, clacked away on the abacus, and soon reported, “One thousand twelve wen and five fen.”
The guest’s eyes went straight—how ruthless! A short letter of just twenty-five characters would cost two months’ wages for a worker.
The soldier, seeing him like this, said, “Your letter is too wordy. Reduce some characters and it will be cheaper.”
He kindly handed him a brush, “Go to the side and think it over.”
The guest could speak Chinese and recognized some Chinese characters, which was already quite impressive. To have him condense it…
The guest decided on the spot, “You look it over and add or remove? As long as the meaning is the same.”
Hearing this, the soldier thought for a moment and wrote on paper: “When come Kucha, task done, await urgently.”
He turned it to show him, “How about sending this?”
Seeing it, the guest nodded repeatedly, saying again and again, “This is good, this is good. Send it like this.”
The soldier sent it according to the address he gave. Ten characters cost two hundred seventy wen, which converted to Kucha five-zhu coins was four hundred five coins.
The guest was deeply moved—the money instantly decreased by more than half, preserving a month’s wages.
The soldier said, “Leave an address. If there’s a reply, we’ll notify you.”
The guest’s eyes flickered as he said, “Where I live is far. I’m temporarily staying at the relay station. If a letter arrives, just call me.”
The soldier agreed.
As soon as the guest left, Wu Liang wandered over, “What’s his name?”
The soldier quickly showed him the form, “Muhetaer, Station Commissioner. Is he a spy sent by Kucha?”
“Don’t know where he was sent from, but he’s definitely a spy,” Wu Liang said. “Alone by himself—who would come here to stay at a relay station?”
Their relay station was on the edge of an oasis. Crossing the oasis and going eighty li northwest was Kucha’s royal city.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to build the relay station in the royal city—they just couldn’t secure it.
But thinking about it, having the relay station here was also good. This was the last oasis entering the Kucha Kingdom. All merchant caravans coming from the Hua Kingdom had to pass through here.
Here they could provide them with information. Similarly, all merchant caravans leaving Kucha for the Hua Kingdom also had to pass through here.
Eighty li was neither much nor little—exactly a day’s journey for an ordinary merchant caravan.
Here they could collect large amounts of information from passing merchants and travelers, then transmit it back via telegraph.
Perhaps out of great interest in the Eastern divine kingdom, within two days of Wu Liang and his men moving into the relay station, they received quite a few guests.
The rather large relay station was actually occupied to nearly a third of its guest rooms. Besides lodging guests, Kucha officials from the oasis, some large landowners and merchants also curiously came around for a look.
Wu Liang remained calm and composed, methodically ordering one squad to take travel permits and other items to purchase things in Kucha’s royal city.
“This trip is to familiarize yourselves with the route. Look more, speak less. Besides prices, don’t casually inquire about other things. We’ve just arrived and should prioritize caution.”
The soldiers acknowledged this, then hitched up the cart and went to Kucha’s royal city.
The people had just left when someone ran over from the collection room, “Station Commissioner, there really is a monk named Huizhen at White Horse Temple, and he really knows Muhetaer.”
He showed him the telegraph just received.
Wu Liang only glanced at it, unsurprised. “Since the letter has been received, have someone deliver it to Muhetaer. To wait for this letter, he’s already stayed at our place an extra day.”
The relay station’s food and lodging weren’t cheap.
When Muhetaer received the letter, his face was full of disbelief. He looked back and forth at the thin sheet of paper, his face full of doubt, “This is Huizhen’s reply?”
“Yes.” The soldier, having delivered the letter, was about to leave when Muhetaer hurriedly stopped him, saying, “How can I confirm this is Huizhen’s reply and not…” you randomly writing on paper, making up a sentence?
The soldier was unhappy, “You underestimate us too much. The court has strict regulations—intercepting or falsifying customer messages is forbidden. Otherwise, punishment is determined by consequences, with the lightest offense equivalent to theft. Do you know how serious theft is under Hua Kingdom law?”
“At minimum, three years of labor service!”
The soldier looked at him with contempt, “Just for one letter, our entire collection room would risk three years of labor service punishment to falsify it? For what?”
But Muhetaer couldn’t understand, “You only helped me send the letter yesterday, and today you received a reply?”
“Isn’t this normal? The telegram sent yesterday was received in Luoyang yesterday. If they’re not busy, they would have sent someone to notify White Horse Temple yesterday. If busy, then these couple days. The recipient receives the telegram and sends you a reply—isn’t this a normal speed?”
The soldier said, “If you lived in Kucha’s royal city, we’d still have to send someone to deliver the letter to you, which might be another day or two late. But you’re living right here—just a matter of lifting your feet.”
Muhetaer looked down at the letter. Finally, to confirm whether this was real, he immediately gritted his teeth and said, “I want to send Huizhen another letter.”
This time, Muhetaer didn’t need the soldier’s help condensing characters. He directly asked Huizhen, “Please describe what you entrusted to me once more.”
Far away in Luoyang, the monk Huizhen was already packing his luggage. When he received this telegram, his whole person was bewildered.
The postal delivery person who brought him the letter gave a friendly reminder, “Master, the other party seems quite urgent and even paid double to have us deliver immediately. Do you want to reply to him?”
Huizhen touched his money pouch, finally gritted his teeth and went.
He was going to the Western Regions again, and his travel expenses were already insufficient. Sigh, why was Muhetaer making things difficult for himself?
Sending telegrams with so many characters was very expensive.