Chapter 27 The fourth section "Jin Zou Yuan" and "Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News"

The intelligence agency of "Jinzuoyuan" was formally established in the middle of the Tang Dynasty.This is a kind of liaison organization stationed at the central government to understand the situation, which is quite similar to the Beijing offices of various provinces, cities, and autonomous regions in the capital Beijing.This organization regularly reports major events in the political and military circles that occurred in the central government or the capital, including the appointment and dismissal of officials, military bulletins, and the whereabouts of the emperor, etc., to the leaders of the region. .

Jinzuoyuan originated from the temporary houses where the court envoys from all over the country lived in the capital every year.It was not until the Zhenguan era of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty that the relevant departments began to officially build special residences for them.During the Zongdali period of the Tang Dynasty (AD 766-779), as the feudal towns gradually became stronger, they needed to arrange their own eyes and ears in the capital to keep abreast of the central government's movements, so it was officially renamed "Jinzuoyuan".On the surface, this name seems to mean that the local government "advances" the local situation to the central government in a timely manner, but in fact the main task is to collect intelligence from the central government and other localities.By the end of the Tang Dynasty, there were as many as 50 such Jinzao courtyards in Chang'an.

The officials who enter the Zouyuan are of higher rank.At the highest level, their positions were equivalent to that of the central censor, that is, the level of the deputy prime minister.They have their own communication system, but mainly use the equipment of the official station. The appearance of Jinzhaoyuan promoted the appearance of a news newspaper, which is "Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News".Journalism historians consider this to be the first newspaper in our country. "Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News" is an engraved and printed document, which was edited by the staff of Jinzuo Academy.The content includes military and political intelligence collected from various Jinzhaoyuans.Published irregularly, each issue is a leaflet, with a small number of words, generally 15 characters per line, 13 lines per page, all in regular script, with borders and no gaps.In terms of the number of copies printed and its readership, this newspaper is relatively primitive.It is a pity that there were very few copies printed at that time, and the readers were limited to a few upper-level officials who entered the Zouyuan and Jiedu envoys from various places, so there are very few left in the world.Few of the "Miscellaneous News" from the heyday of the Tang Dynasty survived to the mid-Tang Dynasty.Sun Qiao, a man in the middle Tang Dynasty, has seen dozens of articles, including: "A certain day the emperor personally plowed the fields", "A certain day a hundred bureaucrats performed a great archery ceremony", "A certain day the princes of the Tibetans invited their followers (following the emperor) to enshrine Zen" , "One day the prime minister of the Xuanzhengmen was fighting with a hundred bureaucrats (arguing in the court)" and so on.It is roughly equivalent to the daily headlines of today's daily newspapers.It's a pity that since Sun Qiao, it's hard for people to see him.Now we only know that there was such a newspaper at that time from an article in Sun Qiao's "Reading Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News".

However, from the organization of Jinzuo Academy and the publication of Kaiyuan Zabao, we can learn about the development of the communication industry in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the close relationship between Zabao and post offices in various places, and the smooth flow of news at that time. From one aspect, it shows the development of post post business.