Chapter 13 Section 5 Official Mail and Private Mail

The mail of the Han Dynasty was the same as that of the previous period, and it was mainly official mail.Postal kiosks and post offices most often convey the official documents of the state.The most numerous of these official documents are the military and political orders issued by the emperor.The emperor's edict is generally issued by the prime minister's mansion to the counties and counties, and then transmitted layer by layer to every frontier beacon.In addition, there are documents issued by the central level ministers to the states and counties, which are also sent by the post office.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Qiao Mao, the prefect of Dongjun, once falsely called "Sangong", and "Chuanyizhou County" issued a document to crusade against Dong Zhuo.In addition, the daily administrative affairs between the central and local governments, such as year-end population statistics, robbery and prison lawsuits, etc., are regularly reported to the central government through the post office.

There was no legal private mail system in the Han Dynasty.Correspondence between officials is often carried out through the official mail system.Sometimes by passing along a few personal letters when reporting the situation upwards, and sometimes by virtue of their own power, they force the official post to serve themselves.For example, in the unearthed bamboo slips of the Han Dynasty, archaeologists also sorted out many personal correspondence at that time.Among the unearthed Juyan Han bamboo slips, there are two letters that are particularly intriguing.This may be a letter written by two local low-level officials to their wives.One was written by a man named Shang to his wife, Ziqing. The extant original letter is about 50 characters in length. The content is to thank the virtuous wife at home for her filial piety, to respect her parents on his behalf, and to ask her to take care of her body and wear more clothes in winter. , Drink and eat on time.The other is a letter from an official of a border town called Xuan, who wrote a letter to his wife named Yousun. Body.He also mentioned that his wife, elder brother and younger brother came to the border to visit Xuan, but it was a pity that he was in a hurry and never saw his grandson, so he wrote this letter to inform him of this.The letter also mentioned that Xuanqian had written another letter to his wife and younger brother Youxiao through the post booth ("Juyanhan Jianjia Compilation").From the last two letters, we can understand that civil communication was still extremely difficult during the Han Dynasty.Because Shang Hexuan is a small border official, it is possible to take the opportunity to send a message.It is worth noting that the writing format of these two private letters is still basically the same as that of the Qin Dynasty. The beginnings of each are: "Reward Fudi and then please pay your respects to Ziqing", "Xuanfudi please pay respects to your young grandson and young wife".It is naturally funny to be so polite between husband and wife, but it is obviously a necessary specification for letters at the time.From the two bamboo slips of the Han Dynasty, the husband called his wife "young woman" and his father-in-law "father-in-law". It can be seen that in Qin and Han Dynasties, they called each other roughly the same as today.In the Qin bamboo slips in the past, the husband called his wife "Xin Zhao (wife)", and his wife and elders as "father-in-law" and "auntie", etc. It can be seen that the titles in Qin and Han Dynasties are also similar.These valuable materials are of great reference value for people today to study the history of human relations.As for ordinary people at that time, communication was even more difficult.Even if they want to use letters to report the situation to the government, it is impossible to do so through official mail. Only the parties concerned make a special trip to Beijing by "writing a letter by bus".Zhu Maichen, a famous minister of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, met Emperor Wu through this channel.

Among the remaining ancient poems of the Han Dynasty, many reflect the difficulty of private correspondence at that time.Among them, there is a poem that says, "A guest came from afar and left me a letter. The first word is 'Long Lovesickness', and the second word is 'Long Time Parting'. Put the book in your sleeve, and the words will not be wiped out for three years."A letter has been hidden in the sleeve for three years, which shows the preciousness of the letter and the difficulty of communication.In the unearthed bamboo slips of the Han Dynasty, there are often slips of letters that talk about the difficulty of communication.In the Dunhuang Han Bamboo Bamboo Slips, there is a letter from Zheng to Youqing Junming. It is said that because of Zheng's "officials are thin and humble", letters have not been communicated for more than five years.It can be seen that even small frontier officials cannot take advantage of the convenient postal conditions due to their low status.

Due to the limitation of communication, sometimes the density of correspondence can become the basis for judging cronies. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" talked about a case. When it comes to Du An, a famous scholar, he "has few ambitions" and is called "odd boy".A noble relative wanted to win him over and wrote some letters to him. Du Ansu was self-conscious and didn't want to communicate with the noble relative, so he hid these letters intact in the wall.Later, this noble relative committed a crime, and the government investigated his party members. Du An handed over the original letter to the official, and washed away his relationship with this noble relative.His honest and self-disciplined behavior was praised by the people at that time.

In the Han Dynasty, there was only one kind of people who had private mail settings, and that was some powerful "vassals and kings".In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, many Wangs with the same surname set up their own private communication networks.Huainan Wang Liu An had many guests under his command, who collected intelligence from various places for him and set up a communication system by himself.During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Wang Wenshu, a cruel official with special power, also organized a group of people and horses as his private post. It is said that he once owned "fifty private horses as a post".It is almost 700 miles from Hanoi (where the government is located in the southwest of Wuzhi, Henan Province) to Chang'an, and Wang Wenshu's private post horse can go back and forth in two days of relay.However, the above-mentioned situation was not common throughout the Han Dynasty. Once the separatist regime ended and the imperial power strengthened, these temporary private posts disappeared.

The official mail system of the Han Dynasty was very strict.The documents sent and received by the post booth should be registered and made into a book, which is called "post book book".The post envoys or postmen on the post road have certain uniform colors. They should wear red headscarves, red sleeves on their arms, and red and white bags on their backs. They are very eye-catching when running on the post road, which is conducive to the identification of full-time post couriers. .At that time, the speed of postal communication was relatively fast. Horse transmission could travel three to four hundred miles a day, and car transmission could travel about 70 miles. Walking was slower, and it could travel about forty to fifty miles a day.From Jincheng County in the west (northwest of today's Lanzhou City) to Chang'an on a fast horse, the distance is 1,450 miles, and it takes seven days to run back and forth.According to historical records, Zhang Heng, a famous scientist in the Eastern Han Dynasty, made the world's earliest wind seismograph for measuring and indicating earthquakes.When one day a dragon-headed pearl fell into the mouth of a toad on the west side of the seismograph, many people in Luoyang City still did not believe that an earthquake would occur.A few days later, there was a report from Longxi sent by a flying horse, confirming that an earthquake had occurred there.This example is enough to prove that the post office system was perfect at that time, and the information was conveyed quickly, accurately and effectively.

The communication ban system in the Han Dynasty was very strict, and letters were required to enter and exit the gate along the post road.In the Han Dynasty, it was also called "Guo Suo", which was the identity certificate and pass for postmen and pedestrians.In the Qin Dynasty, it was originally made of wood. The "Annotation to the Ancient and Modern Times" said: "It is five inches long, and the letters and symbols are on it."Many such letters have been found in Juyan Han Dynasty ruins.In the Han Dynasty, there was another kind of talisman made of 缯 [zeng Zeng] silk. Two pieces of silk were used, and the passers-by and the inspectors each held one of them, and they could pass through the customs only after they were combined. "Hanshu" records that a famous scholar finally entered the army from Jinan to Beijing as a doctor, and entered the customs on foot. The customs officials checked his identity certificate. Fu Xin walked away.From this story, it shows that in the Han Dynasty, the confinement was very strict no matter for post messengers or ordinary pedestrians.Unearthed at Shuiguan in Juyanjian is a "Letter from Han Zhangye Duwei [qi Qi]", which is made of a kind of red silk with ink brush and seal script on it.According to experts' research, this was a kind of amulet used as a proof of identity at that time, which was hung on the pole as an entry and exit document.