Chapter 26 Section 3 The Wide Variety of Postal Services and Means of Communication

The Tang Dynasty had detailed regulations on the service scope of post offices.Under what circumstances can the post office be used?The laws of the Tang Dynasty stipulated 13 detailed rules, including: emergency reports on military affairs; must be used by all divisions in Beijing; urgent and major events must be reported by all states; congratulations by states during state affairs; People go to Beijing to take exams; important government officials go to meet and see them off; government officials die on duty and return to their hometowns to take care of them, etc.The above-mentioned personnel who take the post to pass on are collectively referred to as "post envoys".This is a kind of high-level envoy who is different from the courier who usually delivers post documents. They enjoy different post delivery treatment due to their different levels.According to the provisions of "New Book of Tang Baiguan Zhi", first-rank officials can give eight post horses, second-rank officials six, and third-rank and below five to two horses.Both senior post envoys and ordinary post envoys (Yi Ding) need special certificates to exercise post power on post roads.In the Tang Dynasty, there are usually four kinds of vouchers: one is the silver medal, which is uniformly issued by the Menxia Province. It is a silver medal with a width of two and a half inches and a length of five inches. The third is the coupon; the fourth is the pass.The latter two are paper certificates.The shape of the horn symbol is unknown in history, and it is estimated that the shape is like a horn.With the above-mentioned certificates, only post roads and gates across the country can pass unimpeded.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, there were generally two types of official document transmission, namely water post and land post.There are postmen and water husbands in the water post who are responsible for delivering documents.Their life is quite difficult.Wang Jian, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, once wrote a poem "Shuifu Ballad", describing their life: "It's hard to grow up as a postman, and the officials let me lead the postboat. The days of hard work are more and the days are less, and the water and the sand are like seabirds." ...Cold clothes and wet shorts, why don't you bear the pain if you wear your feet torn!" The Tang government has a certain deadline for sending letters by the water post.It is generally stipulated that when sailing a heavy boat against the current, the river travels 30 miles per day, the river travels 40 miles per day, and the other 45 miles; Regardless of the weight of the boat, it is stipulated that the river travels 100 to 150 miles a day.Luyi generally has two types of horse delivery and step delivery, and later added donkey delivery.Horse delivery According to the official regulations of the Tang government, fast horses are required to travel six stages a day, that is, about 180 miles, and faster horses are required to travel 300 miles a day.The fastest requirement is 500 miles per day-this is the speed used to send emergency documents such as pardons.The pardon is related to a person's life, so it is natural to ask for it to be faster.In the Tang Dynasty, the step delivery personnel were called "buzuoguan", "jianbu", "foot strength", "sending shop soldiers" and so on.

In the Tang Dynasty, the organization of "Ming Camel Envoy" was established.What is "Ming Camel Envoy"?According to the textual research of Yang Shen, a man of the Ming Dynasty, a kind of fast-moving camel was used to undertake the task of delivering official documents and letters.This kind of camel can travel thousands of miles a day ("Dan Qian Zong Lu" volume 13).It is also said that this camel "has hair under the belly, can be bright at night, and can drive 500 miles a day", so it is called "Ming Camel" (Volume 2 of "Yang Taizhen's Biography").It is said that the famous general Ge Shuhan used this kind of "Ming Camel Envoy" during Tang Xuanzong's time. He often sent envoys to Beijing to perform affairs on this kind of camel, often traveling 500 miles a day.Concubine Yang Guifei also privately used Ming camel envoys to send diptero incense as a tribute to Anlu Mountain.In addition, Wu Zetian also created a wooden box called "gui [gui rail]" to receive various letters from the people.The content is all-encompassing, you can recommend yourself, you can ask for redress, you can also give advice to the government, and you can also post your own good works, especially articles praising Wu Zetian, in this kind of mailbox.This can also be regarded as a special communication method to understand the situation at that time.