but!"
She paused, her eyes sharp.
"Any delay will incur a deduction of five cents. If the package falls apart or is damaged, the extra allowance for the month will be deducted directly!"
Zhen Shizhong swallowed hard and whispered to Zhi Tianfeng, "Brother, what does this mean? How much can we earn?"
"Just running around for a month, you can earn two or three taels of silver."
Lin Qingdai, with her sharp ears, immediately replied, "Those who run around diligently can easily earn five or six taels. For every five-star review, they get an extra coin; for every negative review, they lose five coins."
The veterans paused for a moment when they heard "six ounces".
How much is the monthly salary of the elite troops in the Zhechong Command?
Is running errands more lucrative than risking your life?
"Alright, those who are willing to do it, change your clothes and get the map."
Gu Moran waved his hand, "We piloted it in the south of the city a couple of days ago, and that area was full of big orders from merchants."
Three hours later, everyone had gotten used to it, and the deliverymen were running around like hotcakes.
Zhi Tianfeng and Zhen Shizhong stood outside the Mixue Ice City branch in the south of the city.
The two men, wearing yellow vests, were drinking milk tea and looking at a pile of wooden crates in front of them.
An old man in plain clothes grabbed Zhen Shizhong's sleeve, jumping up and down anxiously. "Sir, my son is doing business in Little Zhang Village, twenty miles away. He sent a message yesterday asking me to hurry over and help watch the shop."
I'm slow on my feet, since you're delivering something... could you take me there? I'll add fifty coins! I'll give you a five-star review!
Zhen Shizhong stared at Zhi Tianfeng.
Sending a living person?
Zhi Tianfeng stroked his chin. The prince didn't seem to have said that living people couldn't be sent away.
And add fifty coins!
"Get in!" Zhi Tianfeng gritted his teeth.
The next day.
West side of the former Prince's Palace.
"Third brother, are you unhappy again?"
Back then at Yanmen Pass, you rode the black horse Wuzhui, single-handedly breaking through enemy lines for thirty li.
Zhen Shizhong patted the shoulder of a scarred man next to him, his eye twitching, "Now... you still can't get over riding this scraggly mule?"
I heard you had the fewest orders yesterday.
Scarface Chen Mo's face darkened, and he didn't reply.
He placed his hand on the mule's back, only to feel the dry, bony spine digging into his hand.
They were cavalry.
Horses are like brothers to them.
They considered mules to be livestock.
"Don't be picky." Zhi Tianfeng walked over, holding a stack of invoices stamped with a red seal in his hand.
"Today we have an urgent need for supplies on the eastern front. Thirty packets of raw herbs from the herbal medicine shop, ten bolts of satin from the cloth shop, and the cured pork from West Mountain that the old lady of the Zhang family in the east of the city specifically requested."
Delivery must be completed within three hours, twelve items per person.
"Three hours?" Chen Mo frowned. "The road to West Mountain is all bends and loose gravel."
Zhi Tianfeng shoved the order form for the cured meat into his hand.
"The merchant said that if the cured meat could be hung hot on Old Madam Zhang's stove before lunchtime, he would give her an extra fifty coins."
Zhi Tianfeng glanced at him. "Are you going or not? Have you saved enough money to get married?"
"Fifty coins!" Chen Mo's eyes lit up. "I'll risk it! It's not that I'm greedy, I just think a mule is better for honing my skills!"
In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, more than a dozen veterans had mounted their mules.
"Drive!"
With a loud, rough shout, the mule shot out of the city gate like a lit firecracker.
On the official road outside Yi Prefecture City.
A group of merchants from Jia Prefecture were traveling at a leisurely pace.
The chubby guard in front of us just yawned.
"Whoosh--"
A gust of wind, carrying the smell of earth, brushed past his ear.
The fat guard only saw a blur before a figure wearing an earth-yellow vest and carrying a large hemp bag on his back flashed past his horse's head.
Before he could even utter a curse, "Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" A series of figures flanked him from both sides.
"Third brother, you dare overtake my cart! That ten-cent reward for the fastest speed is mine!" Zhen Shizhong shouted at the top of his lungs from the mule's back.
With legs tightly gripping the mule's body, the cavalrymen swayed rhythmically with the mule's movements—a tactical maneuver used to dodge stray arrows.
"Whoever is faster gets to keep it!" Chen Mo was in front, lowered his body, almost lying on the mule's neck, using the wind direction on the mountain road to reduce resistance.
When entering the narrow, winding dirt road in West Mountain.
A slow truck carrying firewood appeared ahead, completely blocking the road.
To the left is a steep cliff, and to the right is a shrubbery about one meter wide.
If it were a regular driver, they would have to stop and wait.
But in the eyes of Zhi Tianfeng, who was hot on his heels, these were nothing more than barricades and roadblocks on the battlefield.
He let out a sharp whistle from the tip of his tongue.
That was the code signal used by the Anyang Army during their night raid—"Disperse, flanking maneuvers!"
The three veterans running ahead didn't even need to turn around; the moment they heard the whistle, they simultaneously pulled on the reins.
Zhen Shizhong, in the middle, suddenly pulled the mule back half a step to make room;
Chen Mo on the left pulled on the reins, and the mule's front hooves left the ground, forcefully charging up the one-meter-wide sloping bushes;
The veteran on the right clung to the edge of the steep cliff, his mule hooves almost dangling in the air, sliding sideways at an extremely dangerous angle.
The interweaving was completed within three breaths.
They didn't even slow down.
The old farmer carrying firewood only felt a gust of wind pass by, and then a yellow shadow flashed before his eyes before he disappeared.
"What... what is that thing? Did the mudslide grow legs?"
The old farmer dropped the whip from his hand.
The veterans' innate competitive spirit was completely ignited.
In order to be half an incense stick's time faster than others, and for the extra thirty or fifty coins the merchant would give as a reward.
They used all the horsemanship, scouting instincts, and reckless charging spirit they had learned over the past decade to deliver packages.
Where there are shortcuts, where the road surface is hard, and where you can cut directly to the side without slowing down on curves.
At the end of the workday in the evening.
Chen Mo slammed a heavy piece of silver on the table, a smile on his face.
But behind him, the mule was so exhausted that it leaned against the manger, practically foaming at the mouth.
Murong Xue sat behind the counter, rapidly calculating on her abacus.
"The cured pork from Master Zhang, prepared half an hour in advance and still warm, will cost an extra fifty coins. The porcelain bottle from the woodworking shop in the south of the city, unbroken, will cost an extra ten coins, and..."
She pushed a string of copper coins toward Zhi Tianfeng.
"Your group collected two and a half taels of silver today. That's faster than I expected!"
"Just one thing to note: if the mule dies from exhaustion, you'll have to pay for it yourself!"
On the other side.
Dozens of veteran soldiers skilled in long spear and heavy armor infantry combat stood in a daze on a steep slope beside a canal outside the city.
There is a muddy mountain path here, with an incline of forty-five degrees.
Since horse-drawn carriages couldn't make it up the stairs, they had to be carried up by human laborers.
Gu Moran stood at the bottom of the slope, with more than a dozen specially made cast cage baskets beside him.
Each basket has a widened base and is covered with a thick canvas.
Inside were pig iron parts fresh from the Ten-Li Slope blast furnace, bundles of blue bricks, several double-handled iron pots, and separate containers of saltpeter, etc.
It weighs 80 jin (approximately 40 kg).
"This is your test."
Gu Moran looked at the infantrymen standing in straight lines.
" Tongda Large and Heavy Goods Transport Factory. They go up and down this slope three times a day."
Upon hearing this, the veterans frowned even more deeply.
The infantry leader was a man who stood eight feet tall.
He stepped forward and lifted the 80-pound iron cage basket with one hand.
It's very heavy.
It would be difficult for an average strong man to carry it on flat ground, let alone uphill.
But they were warriors who once wore sixty pounds of bright armor and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy while wielding long spears!
[Thanks to: Cherry Blossom's Milk Tea, Sunset and Ancient Cicada's Flowers, Deer Antler's Love Letter, and Chen Qing's Like! And thank you to everyone for your support!]