Chapter 5 Section 5 Complete Postal Biography of the Western Zhou Dynasty

In the 11th century BC, the Zhou Dynasty, the longest dynasty in Chinese history, was established (from the 11th century BC to 771 BC), with its capital in Haojing (now west of Xi'an, Shaanxi), and it was called the Western Zhou Dynasty.After 770 BC, the capital moved to Luoyang, which was also called Eastern Zhou Dynasty in history. The Western Zhou Dynasty was the heyday of the slave society in our country, and it was also the period when various systems in our country began to improve. The postal post system formed a relatively regular system at this time.In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the government paid special attention to repairing roads. There is a description in "The Book of Songs Xiaoya Dadong" that "Zhou Dao is like a stone, and its straightness is like an arrow", that is to say, the road is as flat as a millstone and as straight as an arrow shaft.According to "Zhou Li", the official in charge of the waiting hall of the house in Daotu is called "Yelu family".He is responsible for organizing the carriages, horses, grain, grass, and transportation materials of all the buildings within 500 miles of the capital; ensuring the smooth flow of roads and the safety of guests; arranging people who take turns on duty during the day and patrolling at night;

The Zhou Dynasty built a particularly wide and flat avenue between the national capital Haojing and the eastern capital Luoyi, known as "Zhou Dao", also known as "Wang Dao".Hundreds of years later, Mozi commented on this avenue and said: "The way of kings is turbulent, without partiality or party;According to the regulations of the Zhou system, the kingly way in Kyoto should be nine tracks wide.One track is 1.8 meters, and nine tracks are about 16.3 meters.With such a wide road, walking is naturally much more convenient and faster.In addition to the kingly way, the Zhou Dynasty still built several passages leading to the great vassal states.For example, from Luoyi to the State of Lu, it is called "Lu Dao", which is also quite broad, and it is praised: "Wen Shui Tang Tang, pedestrians Peng Peng. Lu Dao is swaying, and Qi Zi soars." Meaning: Wen River does not stop The ground flows, and pedestrians come and go on the Ludao.On this flat road, the Qilu people in the east fly freely!The straightness of the road and the progress of the vehicles naturally improved the efficiency of the road.It is said that King Mu of the Western Zhou Dynasty traveled thousands of miles a day in a light chariot driven by eight tall horses.This is of course a bit of literary exaggeration, but judging from the records in the official history book "Zuo Zhuan", it is generally not a problem to drive 260 miles a day.

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was already a relatively complete postal post system.There are different names for different ways of delivering documents, for example: delivery by car is called "pass", which is a kind of fast delivery by light vehicle; there is another kind of delivery by car called "day".There is another kind called "post", which in the Zhou Dynasty mainly refers to the organization that uploads letters on the frontier.There is also a kind of "disciple", which is a fast-paced pass, which allows people who are good at running fast to deliver official letters or information, which is a bit similar to Philipides in the ancient Greek marathon.Generally speaking, in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were not many single-rider biography, and the biography was generally biography.

On the Postal Post Road in the Western Zhou Dynasty, rest stations were set up along the way, called "committee", "guan" or "city". "Zhou Li" records that along the National Avenue at that time, there were huts for 10 miles, and there were food and beverages in the huts;There are some exquisite museums and cities, which are prepared for high-level messengers from all over the world.These halls and cities are well-equipped with halls and bathrooms, where you can fully rest and relieve the fatigue of the journey. The government of the Western Zhou Dynasty had a complete top-down system of posts, posts, and post offices.Under the unified leadership of Tianguan Zhongzai, Qiuguan Sikou was in charge of daily correspondence, Xiaguan Sima was in charge of emergency documents, and Diguan Situ was in charge of supply of post stations along the way, traffic certificates, and road management.There are also a series of specialized personnel under the Si Kou who is in charge of daily communication affairs, including big pedestrians, small pedestrians, and travel husbands.Among them, the executor is the specific executive officer who manages the letters and messengers.

Judging from historical data, the communication and post stations in the Western Zhou Dynasty were very efficient. "Shangshu" once recorded a historical event in the early Zhou Dynasty: when King Wu died, King Cheng came to the throne and was assisted by Duke Zhou.Zhou Gong ordered Zhao Gong to manage the new capital of Luoyang.Before and after the completion of the new capital, there were many correspondences between Zhou and Zhao, all of which were completed by messengers delivering official documents from the two places.The history books at that time called this kind of messenger "envoy" or "伻[beng collapse]".There is also a story that Zhou Gong was granted the title of Lu, and Jiang Shang was granted the title of Qi.After Jiang Shang arrived in Qi, he didn't talk about policies, and indiscriminately killed two local wise men who refused to obey the rule.After hearing this, Duke Zhou immediately rushed to Linzi, the capital of Qi, by "urgent transmission" to stop Jiang Shang's arbitrary behavior.The fact that the emergency transfer arrived so promptly and quickly shows that the post road was smooth at that time.

Of course, this was limited to the central area of ​​the Western Zhou Dynasty.Communication in the border areas will not be so convenient.For example, according to historical records, in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Yueshang family from Guangdong, Guangxi and Vietnam came to the court. Because of the dangerous mountains and rivers and the long road, they were worried that they would not be able to reach Haojing, so they sent three teams of envoys to come separately, and finally arrived in Zhou This moved the Duke of Zhou very much. Later, the Duke of Zhou sent people to take them back, and they walked on the road for more than a year before returning.It can be seen that the roads in most parts of the south were quite difficult at that time, and communication was difficult.

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the military beacon communication had become a formal system.At first, people built a big tree between the fields at the crossing of the road, and decorated it with furs and other things, so that messengers and passers-by could know where the station was located from a long distance, which is called "post" in ancient Chinese.This facility is both a communication network and a symbol of defense.Later, it gradually became a protective fortress, and then developed into a beacon tower.The scale of the platform is getting bigger and bigger, so that "there are hundreds of steps on the four corners, and the earth is square, with a room on it, and a pillar on the room, which is more than ten feet high." There are beacons and drums on the pillars of the platform.Beacon Tower is now called Beacon Tower.Sui is a pile of firewood and wolf dung, which is lit with fire and emits wolf smoke, which rises straight without wind and can be seen from a long distance.In the evening, oranges are erected on the stage, and a large iron cage is placed on top of it, with firewood inside.In case of emergency, it will form a towering torch after burning.From the capital to the border, beacon towers were erected on every avenue, and special people were sent to watch them.If the border is urgent, the news will soon spread to the capital; if the capital is killed, the news will spread from the capital to the border.This is a very effective beacon communication system in ancient my country, and it was used continuously from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Han Dynasty.The story of King You of Zhou's "Princes of Fenghuo Opera" is a famous example in history.King You of Zhou was the last king of the Western Zhou Dynasty.He took a beautiful woman named Baosi (sisi) as his concubine.Baosi never smiled all day long, so King You came up with a way to please her by playing with the feudal princes: He ordered the soldiers to light a beacon fire on Lishan Mountain in the eastern suburbs of Haojing, beat a big drum, and lied that the capital was in an emergency.He deceived the surrounding princes from all walks of life to come to the rescue in a hurry, and some princes and generals rushed to the scene before they even had time to dress neatly.As a result, it was a false alarm and returned disappointed.But Bao Si and You Wang laughed heartily on the watchtower.The princes knew that they had been fooled, and after King You lit the beacon again, no one came.And the Western Zhou Dynasty died in Xirong in this way.This story is mainly to serve as a warning to people, not to lose faith in the people.But at the same time, it also proves that the acousto-optic military communication of beacon fire and drumming in the Western Zhou Dynasty has become a fixed communication system of the country.