Chapter 19 Section 3 The Rise of the Southern Water Station

The biggest feature of Dongwu post post during the Three Kingdoms period was the appearance of water post.The ruling center of the State of Wu is located in the Jiangnan water town, and there are many waterways in the territory, so the local post post operates both land and water.At that time Zhou Yu was stationed in Chaisang, and Sun Quan wanted to find him to discuss military and state affairs, so he summoned him through Shuiyi.At that time, the exchanges between Wu and Shu were relatively close, and the transportation also depended on boats.If there are envoys from Cao Wei in the north who come to Wu, they sometimes rely on the water post to take a boat.People are all familiar with the story of Jiang Gan stealing books, Jiang Gan came to Zhou Yu's camp in a small boat.

The water station in the south was further developed in the Jin Dynasty.In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were two post stations on land and water in Jiangzhou area.The post roads on land are very neat, with willows planted on both sides, named "Guanliu", and all the stations from Jiujiang to Nanjing are river water stations.At that time, the speed of the waterway was very fast, and the boat could travel about 300 miles a day and night. In the Southern Dynasties, the water stations in the south of the Yangtze River were particularly developed.The transportation of many letters and official documents and official missions are all by water.The water post was even developed to be used for communication with countries in the Western Regions.According to the research of the historian Tang Changru, there was a "Henan Road" starting from Jinling, the capital of the Southern Dynasties, which first traced the waterway westward to Bashu, and then traveled against the river, passing through Qinghai to reach the countries of the Western Regions.

The Southern Dynasties also strengthened economic and cultural ties with neighboring Korea and Japan through water stations or sea transportation.During the Liu Song regime in the Southern Dynasties, Japan communicated with it eight times by sea.During the Southern Qi Dynasty, the Central Plains and the Koryo Kingdom also "traveled to the sea by boat, making the post station often accessible" ("Southern Qi Book" Volume 58 "Korea Biography").At that time, it is likely that the envoy of the Goryeo Kingdom first landed from Donglai, Shandong, and then traveled southward to the Southern Dynasty on a cruise ship and a post.

Water stations also gradually developed in the north.According to historical records, in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was water transportation, and it was possible to travel hundreds of miles in one day and night.In the Northern Dynasties, there were "jin officials" at the ferry to manage the passage of the water post. When Shuiyi arrived in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it got greater development.