Chapter 6 Section 6 The start of solo communication and relay relay

In 770 BC, my country entered the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.The Eastern Zhou Dynasty was divided into two periods: the Spring and Autumn period from 770 BC to 476 BC, and the Warring States period from 475 BC to 221 BC.The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were a critical period in the history of my country's transformation from slavery to feudalism. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the vassal states became more and more powerful, and they vigorously carried out reforms in agriculture, handicrafts and commerce within the scope of their own rule. The economy developed rapidly and the communication facilities were further improved.In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the central dynasty and various vassal states competed to build national roads, communication facilities and post offices.When the State of Lu was in Zhuanggong and Xianggong, it built "Wang Ji's Pavilion" and "Princes' Pavilion" several times to receive messengers from the Zhou royal family and other countries ("Zuo Zhuan Zhuanggong Year Thirty-one Years of Xianggong") .Qi State was the first vassal state in the Spring and Autumn Period to become powerful and dominate. , the committee is where the materials are stored, and "with duties" means that there is a special person in charge.If an envoy comes from afar, the person in charge of Qi Guoyun will immediately send someone to help the guests unload their luggage, equip horses and prepare meals ("Guanzi Da Kuang").Chu is an emerging big country in the south, and "passing orders by the day" has also become a custom, where a day is set up, and a large number of Japanese cars and horses are equipped.On the avenue near Chudu, there are often daily cars facing each other on the road, which is quite powerful.Although the Yan Kingdom in the north developed later than the Central Plains, the roads and post offices also quickly caught up in the spring and autumn.It is very convenient for the messenger to deliver the message, "you can sleep at night, you can rest in the daytime, there is a well for food and drink, and there is a house for shelter."

Due to the development of post roads, the perfection of the post system was actually taken as the criterion of a country's civilization at that time.Zi Chan, a famous statesman, spoke highly of the achievements of Jin Wen Gong’s post post: “Wen Gong is also the leader of the alliance, the palace is humble and there are no viewing platforms and pavilions, and he is a grand prince’s pavilion. The warehouse is repaired and the road is easy. The princes and guests in the hall From Dian to Ting Deng, servants and inspectors, and horses and chariots are accompanied by guests" ("Zuo Zhuan Thirty-one Years of Duke Xiang").Jin Wengong did not build palaces and pavilions, but spent a lot of money to clean up the hotels and stables of the messengers from various countries.Shan Xianggong was ordered by the king to visit the state of Chu. When he passed by the state of Chen, he saw that the roads in the country were not repaired and the buildings were barren.It was precisely because of the development of transportation, library buildings and communications in various countries during the Spring and Autumn Period that it was possible for many meetings and alliances to be successfully held at that time.According to statistics, from 722 BC in the early Spring and Autumn Period to 481 BC in the late Spring and Autumn Period, the vassal states held a total of 187 alliances, some of which had dozens of countries participating.It would be hard to imagine such a large-scale meeting without perfect transportation, postal stations, and library facilities.An important development symbol of the post post system during this period was the emergence of single-rider communication and relay transmission.This is a major change in the history of my country's post system.The earliest record of communication on a fast horse alone is "Chengju" by Zheng Guozichan. "Zuo Zhuan" records that in the autumn of 540 BC, Sun Hei, the Duke of Zheng, rebelled. Xiang Guo Zichan, who was working in the outskirts of the capital, rushed back immediately after hearing the news.Because he was afraid that he would not be able to catch up with the peace by an ordinary car, he temporarily returned in a single-rider "jump". This "jump" was the fastest single-rider communication that appeared in the post office at that time.The initial record of the relay relay also comes from "Zuo Zhuan". It was in the first year of Lu Zhao (541 BC), Qin Jinggong's younger brother went to Jin Dynasty, and opened a post post road between Qin and Jin, and set up every 10 miles. In one house, each postal vehicle only needs to run 10 miles before it can be handed over to the vehicle in the next house.Such a section-by-section relay, covering a total of hundreds of houses, can reach thousands of miles, just from Yong (now Fengxiang, Shaanxi), the capital of Qin, to Jiang (now Jiangxian, Shanxi), the capital of Jin.This kind of relay transportation and delivery of letters is naturally much faster than one-way car delivery.

However, during the Spring and Autumn Period, the above two advanced postal transmission methods were only used in a few cases, and they gradually became popular in the late Spring and Autumn Period.At that time, most of the occasions were still the traditional means of communication - "transfer car" and "day".Vehicle-to-vehicle communication is the vehicle-to-vehicle communication mentioned above. "日" is a high-level express vehicle, which is generally used for urgent matters that senior people need to do.For example, Yan Zi, the minister of Qi State, ran away, which shocked the monarch of Qi State. He immediately took advantage of the "sun" to chase after him, and finally invited this virtuous minister back at the border.

Qi Xi Chengri is another example of the development of postal stations in the Spring and Autumn Period.Qi Xi is a veteran official of the state of Jin. He is impartial and selfless.Minister Shu Xiang was imprisoned by the Jin government because of the political dispute.Uncle Xiang hopes that Qi Xi can come out and speak.When Qi Xi heard about this, he immediately rushed to see Fan Xuanzi who was in power, and proved to Fan Xuanzi that Shu Xiang was a good minister who was able to plan, had few faults, and benefited others. He should be pardoned 10 times.Fan Xuanzi finally obeyed Qi Xi's opinion and pardoned Shu Xiang's crime.And the famous sentence in "Zuo Zhuan" "Qi Xi took advantage of the sun to meet Xuanzi" has become a good news in the history of the Spring and Autumn Period.This record is also regarded by later generations as an extremely precious material in the history of Chinese post offices.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, wars were frequent, and "日" was sometimes used to confuse the enemy.There is a well-known example of "the son of Chu met his master in Linpin on the day of the day": a small country in the south took advantage of the famine in Chu to gather some small countries to attack Chu, and Chu was in a difficult situation.The king of Chu State adopted the strategy of paralyzing the Yong State, deliberately defeated a few battles first, and at the same time secretly transferred troops from various directions.Chu Jun took the "day" usually used for messengers to the front line, and agreed that the generals from all walks of life would join forces at Linpin (southeast of Junxian, Hubei today) to attack Yongguo. The "Japanese" car confused Yongguo, and Yongguo was unprepared for the war, and Chu State easily took Yongguo.From the fact that mediocre people are accustomed to Japan, it can be seen that this kind of communication tool was already widely used in the south at that time.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, the efficiency of vehicle communication was very high.At that time, in addition to Chu, the state of Zheng, which was at the hub of north-south transportation, had quite complete communication facilities.The story of the famous Master Xiangao proves this point.Xian Gao was a businessman in the state of Zheng.One day, he was doing business on the road, and suddenly discovered Qin's secret army attacking Zheng.In order to defend his own country, Xian Gao came up with an ingenious plan in a hurry. He lied that he was the envoy sent by Zheng Guo to reward Qin Jun, and sent Qin Jun four pieces of cooked cowhide and twelve oxen to stabilize Qin Jun; Utilize the transmission vehicles set up on the border to send urgent information to Zheng Guo, so that the monarch can prepare countermeasures quickly.As a result, Qin Jun mistakenly believed that Zheng Guo had been prepared, and did not dare to act rashly.The king of the state of Zheng obtained information from the post office of the frontier defense, and sent envoys to negotiate with the garrison of the state of Qin, sternly pointing out the improper sneak attack of the Qin army.Thus ended the covert military operation.This incident happened in 626 BC, which shows that in the 7th century BC, the communication facilities in the Central Plains of my country were quite efficient and could quickly, timely and accurately transmit border defense information to the political center of the country.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the early acousto-optic communication activities were still developing and were increasingly widely used by military strategists.Sun Wu, a famous military strategist at that time, described the golden drum and banner as "one person's eyes and ears" in his art of war, and his descendant Sun Bin even pointed out that when the enemy's situation is detected, "raise the drum at night, and raise the flag during the day." , which is actually using the principle of acousto-optic communication for communication. This kind of acousto-optic communication was also recorded in the works of Mozi, a great thinker and scientist during the Warring States Period. "Mozi" records that some fortresses in the Warring States period often used large flagpoles on trees as visual signs, and the sound of big drums as ear signals. According to different battle situations, two to six flags were raised, and the sound of drums ranged from three to eight. .The closer the enemy is to attack, the more they will be.At night, "five beacons and five drums" are used, that is, five beacons are lit and the big drum is beaten five times ("Mozi Zashou").

In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a very interesting joke about sound and light communication: According to "Han Feizi", King Chu Li once got drunk and beat a big drum in the palace, which made the capital panic. Important military operations or major enemy situations have taken up arms and gathered in front of the palace gate.As a result, King Chu Li was very embarrassed, so he had to come out and apologize to everyone, explaining that it was just a false alarm.This story tells people from the side that Chu State was very efficient in using sound and light communication at that time.

The official and large number of "post" characters appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period.The "post" at this time was not the postal post of the general folk "post" as understood today, but was only recorded as an institution specialized in delivering letters in frontier defense.Confucius once said: "The spread of virtue can be spread as quickly as postage." That is to say, the widespread spread of virtue is faster than postal transmission.At that time, the word "post" was already used as a metaphor in speeches and articles, which shows that this word was quite popular in society at that time.