Chapter 22 Section 6 Private mail and private travel

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a significant development trend of the post post, that is, "chuan" and "ting" were gradually unified into the post station system.That is to say, the general official documents of the central and local governments are all undertaken by the post alone.The main documents will be delivered by special personnel sent by the sending unit, but the replacement vehicles, horses, board and lodging on the way are all provided by the post.In this way, the "post" became the only institution on the post post road, and it also took care of the task of transporting officials, envoys and guests on the transportation line (this task was previously undertaken by Chuanheting).On the other hand, a new type of private hotel and monastery hotel was used to arrange accommodation for unofficial merchants and private tourists.

During this period, private mail did not appear widely, and only a few big bureaucrats set up post offices for their own use only.Ordinary people's mail is still only carried by business travelers in the past, or forwarded by relatives and friends who have distant official positions.For example, Fan Ye, a historian of the Southern Dynasties who wrote The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, and Lu Kai, a famous scholar, were close friends and they often exchanged letters.Once, Lu Kai entrusted someone from the south of the Yangtze River to bring a branch of plum blossom to Fan Ye in Chang'an, and wrote a poem: "The plum blossoms are folded to meet the post envoy, and sent to the people in Longtou. There is nothing in the south of the Yangtze River, so I will give a branch of spring." The story has become an eternal story in the literary world.But this way of piggybacking letters based on relationships is extremely unsafe.In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, such a thing happened: There was a man whose surname was Yin Xian and the character was Hong Qiao. He became an official and became the prefect of Yuzhang.Once he returned to the county from the capital to take office, people from all walks of life in the capital begged him to send more than 100 letters.But as soon as this man walked out of the city, he threw all these letters into the water, and cursed in his mouth: "Those who sink will sink by themselves, and those who float will float by themselves. Yin Hongqiao didn't send letters and mails" ("Book of Jin · Yin Hao Biography").This incident aroused public indignation, and history writers gave this incident a proper term, called "Hong Qiao's Mistake", which means that this person named Hong Qiao delayed the affairs of many people, making future generations To condemn this dishonest man.In addition to the above, there was indeed another type of private mail in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, which was organized by wealthy businessmen from all over the country and mainly communicated price information as the main mailing content.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, private inns developed greatly. At that time, people called this kind of private inns "Ni Lu".This is a name that has existed since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The law-abiding Shang Yang once proposed the "Abolition of Rebel Travel Order" in order to strengthen the centralization of the central monarchy.Shang Yang believed that Nilv was a place where "treacherous" and lawless people grew up, so it should be banned.If these folk inns are abolished, "treacherous hypocrisy and impetuosity" will not arise.With the development of the industrial and commercial economy in the Han Dynasty, under the prosperous situation of "rich merchants and great merchants flowed around the world" and "oxen, horses and chariots filled the roads", the private hotel industry also developed naturally.The early notebook novel "Story of Han Wu" once described a story of Emperor Wu of Han's private visit to live in Nilu in a micro-clothes.The boss of the rebellious brigade actually regarded Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty as a Jiangyang robber who robbed in the middle of the night. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" also described the situation of "traveling against the road" and "tingshe" in many biographies (such as the fifth Lun, Zhou Fang, etc.).In the poem "Stepping out of Xiamen Journey" written by Cao Cao in the twelfth year of Jian'an (AD 207), there is also a sentence "Nilu is organized to facilitate merchants", which shows that Nilv was very popular at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.In the Western Jin Dynasty, Nilv's business flourished further.Due to the poor reception in public guest houses, many officials also rushed to private guest houses.Another more important reason is that during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the country's post kiosks and buildings were all corrupted by wealthy nobles.Many original post kiosks were destroyed, so ordinary business travelers had to sleep in the wild.In this case, it is natural for private guest houses to emerge as the times require.At this time, some people repeated Shang Yang's old tune, and proposed to close these folk hotels that "adulterate and flee for their lives, rely on many places, and break the laws and regulations".The poet Pan Yue took the lead in opposing such arguments.He wrote an article "Shang Ke She Yi", thinking that this is a favorable facility for the convenience of passing merchants, and it has long been an "old custom of the past dynasties, and has been favored by travelers", which is irreversible to the hearts of the people.Pan Yue cited the examples of Xu You, Ning Qi, and Cao Cao who have all lived in Nilu since ancient times, and pointed out that this is a necessity for the concept of transportation, business and travel: "The traveler relies on stopping, and the dweller pays less for his straightness", which is also a matter of course.In his opinion, traveling thousands of miles, there are these private rebels along the way, "the guesthouses are waiting for sweeping, and the traveler chooses a home to rest", which is the hope of the people.This is a very famous article in ancient my country, and it is also a precious material in the history of transportation and post stations, reflecting the correct commodity economy thought of the poet Pan Yue.Pan Yue also pointed out that in the Jin Dynasty at that time, "near Ji converged, and guest houses were also thick."Near the capital city of Luoyang, Nilu is densely distributed. There are heating and cooling facilities in winter and summer, sufficient food and grass, convenient daily use, and good conditions ("Book of Jin·Pan Yue Biography").

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, this situation developed even further. Some bureaucrats had self-operated inns regardless of the north and south.Cui Jingyou, the younger brother of Cui Guang, the Minister of Wei, once "set up a rebellious journey to the north of the Suran Mountain South Road, and set up food for the traveler" ("Wei Shu·Cui Guang Biography").Xiao Hong, the younger brother of Emperor Liang Wu of the Southern Dynasties, opened dozens of "didians" in Jiankang City alone, both for guests and for storage.At that time, the officials in the north and the south suggested that the government should impose heavy taxes on these rebels.This shows that the private reverse brigade at that time had become an economic force that cannot be ignored.

The development of the folk private reverse travel business not only explained the prosperity of business at that time, but also reflected the prosperity of the post office business at that time from one side.