"Mr. Gao, the train is about to enter the station. You can check your tickets now." Stationmaster Zhou Chuan came over and said to Gao Qiqian. "You lead the team and follow me through the VIP channel. You don't have to line up with the passengers here to check in."
Very satisfied with the high dive. He is the Royal Horse Supervisor and has the highest status here. And they were the emperor's favorites. He is the person who can speak well around Long Live Lord. The other civil servants are at most third grade.
Naturally, he couldn't stand in line with those businessmen.
The delegation arrived on the platform first, just as the train was pulling into the station. Stationmaster Zhou Tong quickly asked them to wait inside the security line.
Although this is a small train, it is a 762 narrow gauge train. However, the steam locomotive is still very impressive. With a loud roar, the train slowly stopped on the platform.
Currently, there are only two platforms at the station. Today, the train will stop at one platform without having to walk over the overpass.
Ma Haogu, the director of the Ministry of War, felt that as the train entered the station, the whole earth was shaking. For a time, many people who saw the train for the first time were shocked. There were even tremors in the legs.
As the train stopped and the gangplank was lowered, the imperial envoys boarded the train according to their official positions and the tickets they bought.
Gao Qiqian and his senior officials went to the sleeping car. Ma Haogu, Wang Dachuan, Chen Liu and others chose the hard-seat carriage. These little bosses usually don't have much luck. Although more than a hundred taels of silver were distributed this time, and Uncle Dingyuan gave Yicheng fifty taels before leaving, he was still reluctant to spend the early 200 taels of silver.
They only bought the cheapest hard seat tickets. The length of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is 200 kilometers, and the average train speed is 25 kilometers per hour. That’s eight hours away. Just hold on and you'll be there. The ticket for a hard seat is only one penny. If you take a sleeper berth, it will cost you one or two cents.
After the imperial envoys had finished boarding the train, the station began to check tickets for ordinary passengers. Moreover, the imperial envoys’ carriages were from the first to the eighth carriages. Behind are fifteen carriages for ordinary passengers.
Section 9 is the food truck. The car connection in front of the dining car is guarded by security personnel with guns. Ordinary people can't get through it. This is also to ensure the safety of the imperial envoys.
Because the small train is narrow, only two meters wide, the internal width is only about two meters. Therefore, we can only arrange seats for two people facing each other on one side, with a small table in the middle. On the other side is the aisle.
There are standing rails in the aisles. Passengers who have not purchased a seat can stand and hold the handrails with their hands to avoid falling due to the shaking of the train. The one-meter-wide passage here is also a small cart passage for selling goods.
Wang Daxing, Chen Liu and Ma Haogu were sitting in the eighth carriage. Even though they were the cheapest tickets, they still had seats. There were no standing tickets sold in the car where the tour group was traveling. Standing tickets are cheaper, only fifty copper coins for the whole journey.
The three of them sat together with Bo Xiao Tianping, the master of Taipu Temple. Taipu Temple is in charge of animal husbandry and royal carriages and horses. The three of them are in charge of the sixth rank. This Xiaozhu Bo is only from the seventh level, which is two levels lower than them. So sitting here is quite restrained.
Looking at the scenery outside the window, the four of them were talking and laughing. This time, they were able to leave the dangerous place of Jiuyuan City before the war. Everyone in the imperial envoy group was celebrating.
"My lords, I want some of the best braised pork, five-spice fennel beans, Jingcheng rice wine, and various fruit plates." A salesman pushing a trolley came. While shouting, he walked forward.
"Brother, have some of all kinds of food." Xiao Zhubo, sitting outside, quickly stopped the salesman and said, handing over a banknote.
The salesperson took a look and saw that it was a one-yuan soft girl coin practice coupon. This kind of banknote was only issued by Xinghe Bank and is currently circulating in the market very well. One-dollar banknotes can be exchanged for one-two silver dollars.
Paper money has now begun to circulate in the business world. After all, the soft girl coin practice coupons are worth 100 yuan. A piece of paper is one hundred taels of silver. It is very concealed and convenient to carry. Now almost all the big cities along the coast and rivers of the Ming Dynasty have opened Xinghe Bank.
Xinghe Bank's general deposit and exchange service mainly involves taking in silver coins and converting them into silver dollars. Then, with the silver dollars, you can buy Xinghe Supermarket products in various cities. Supermarkets and Yang Fan's various business stores do not have cashiers. Of course, if you want to remit money, the easiest way is
The method is to exchange silver dollar banknotes. You can bring the banknotes to any Xinghe Bank and exchange them back for silver coins.
Of course, you can also remit cash, but in that case there will be a fee. There is no fee for converting into banknotes. Businessmen are a group of ghosts and ghosts. They immediately discovered the benefits of exchanging banknotes. Moreover, no one can imitate the banknotes of Xinghe Bank. Very safe.
Gradually, many people simply hold banknotes for consumption, which is very convenient to carry.
The salesperson picked up every item of food and placed it on the small table. He said, "I'll put the things on the table for you. You put them away and you'll get eighty-two cents in change."
The salesperson immediately counted out one fifty-cent and three one-cent notes. Then he counted out twenty copper coins cast by Xinghe himself from the bag.
Only then did Wang Daxing and others realize that Master Xiao wanted to treat him. He quickly declined and said, "How can I let Master Xiao spare your money?"
The items on the small table were worth one and eight cents, which was not cheap. After all, the ticket is only one penny.
"Comrades, meeting each other means we are destined to meet each other. We follow the Jingying all the way to the west, which can be regarded as a friendship. Everyone, please don't be polite to me. Please, please."
The three of them stopped refusing now. Since Master Xiao wanted to make friends with everyone, it would be disrespectful to refuse if he refused.
The four of them were eating and chatting.
"Master Xiao, you seem to be familiar with this bus. It's not your first time, right?" Wang Dachuan asked.
Seeing how he was using banknotes and looking so calm, I guess he had been on a train before.
"You don't know, actually it has been more than half a month since the small train opened, and I have taken it twice." Xiao Zhubo said, "Taipu Temple is in charge of horse administration. I have been running back and forth a lot this year. Mainly because Let’s send the purchased horses back to the capital. Your Majesty is rebuilding the imperial army and the capital camp. We need a lot of war horses.”
Chen Liu stroked his beard and said: "Uncle Dingyuan has really made a great contribution. This year, we have produced a lot of big livestock such as cattle, horses, alpacas. Life in Taipu Temple is easy. Normally, you don't go out to wash." After changing the horse, I will be full this time."
Master Xiao looked around, but no one noticed them, and whispered: "To be honest, Uncle Dingyuan has indeed got a lot of good horses. But the opinions of Uncle Dingyuan within our Taipu Temple are not small." "
The three of them looked at each other. Revealing some internal secrets is the only way to get closer. It seemed that Master Xiao deliberately wanted to make friends with the three of them. Moreover, they were also very interested in Taipu Temple's dissatisfaction with Uncle Dingyuan.
